Survival
by NG
Summary: Sometimes survival is all that you have in life
1. Default Chapter

Author: NG

Title: Survival

Rating: PG-13

Category: Angst/Romance

Pairings: Jarod/Ms Parker

Summary:

Sometimes survival is all that you have in life

Disclaimer:

All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of the original company. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognised characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author

**Author's Note:**

This is my first attempt at Pretender fanfiction so feedback will be greatly appreciated.

* * *

**SURVIVAL **

"What!" she snapped, even before the cellphone reached the side of her ear completely.

"Sounds like somebody is having a bad day," the taunting voice sounded up from the other side of the line.

"Jarod," she stopped in her tracks and for a just a moment her face softened before it turned back to its normal coldness and she continued onwards in a hurry, her boots making a loud clicking noise on the bright tiles of The Centre's main hall.

She had barely walked a couple of feet when he replied to her simple statement of his name with, "Why do people always deny what their hearts are telling them?"

Sighing she moved the phone to her other ear and pushed against her office door before answering with a clear hint of irritation in her voice, "What do you want from me Jarod?"

A long silence followed and just when she thought that maybe the line was disconnected from his side soft words were spoken, "Just for your eyes to open to the truth." Before she could give him a response he hung up, leaving her behind to ponder the meaning of his words.

What neither of them knew at that stage was that they would not get to speak or see each other for a very long time to come.

Not far from her office a man was standing slightly hidden behind a pillar. He had observed her from a distance, the same way he had been doing for the past couple of weeks and as such he had been able to overhear the conversation with what was supposed to be her archenemy. Leaning with his shoulder against the pillar, crossing his arms in front of his chest, his eyes darkened dangerously before he whispered softly under his breath, "Not for long Sis, not for long."

* * *

She entered her house with the same carefulness that had became an integral part of her being ever since her so-called father had jumped from The Centre's plane with the remains of some mysterious scrolls clutched in his hands. After all there was nobody left to protect her anymore from the evil that was part of the place she had been calling her employer for so many years of her life.

Looking over the contents of the room in front of her, especially checking whether certain of her furniture pieces was still in the exact spot she had painstakingly moved them to earlier on that morning before leaving for work, she uttered a soft sigh of relief. Dropping her suitcase on the floor she made her way over to a table where an elegant-looking phone with an answering machine was awaiting her arrival in patience.

Glancing at her answering machine she noticed that there was a couple of messages for her, but instead of checking them she picked up the handset of the phone and dialed a familiar number she knew off-hand.

After barely a few seconds the person on the other side answered and she replied with, "Syd, it's me…yes I'm fine…no nothing was disturbed…yes I promise to be careful…I'm a grown woman Syd and more than capable of looking after myself so stop fussing…yes goodnight."

During her telephonic conversation with the man that had always been a kind of a paternal figure in her life she had taken off her jacket, laying it down neatly on the table, and poured herself a glass of brandy from the tray that always stood available close at hand. At the end of the dialogue she put down the handset and swallowed all of the dark liquid in her glass at the first attempt. She shuddered slightly before instantly pouring herself another glass that took the same route than before.

Closing her eyes for a second, clutching her stomach with one hand she took a couple of deep breaths in order to calm down her ever-raging ulcer. When it finally appeared as if she had a bit of control over the pain she put the glass upside down on the tray.

Registering the angry blinking light from the answering machine she pressed the activation button and listened to the messages as she made her way to the closest sofa and collapsed in it out of sheer exhaustion.

"_You have seven messages,"_ the machine voice started in its cold, neutral tone as she laid her head down on one of the armrests, curling her feet up underneath her.

"_Message 1,"_ the voice continued onwards.

"_Ms Parker, it's me Broots. H-ello? Are you there? Hello? Hello? It's me Broots. If you are there please pick up the phone. If you are getting this message I tried to get hold of you on your cell but _only got your voicemail. _I think I may have a new lead on Jarod so please phone me when you get a chance." _

"Not tonight El' Nerdo," she whispered and closed her eyes, as such not noticing the shadow forming in the doorway of her bathroom.

"_Message 2,"_ the machine stated again.

"_Hello, Ms Parker? It's me again, Broots. Just checking whether you've received my first message yet. Okay…I'll speak to you later." _

"Yeah right," she mumbled, feeling the first clutches of sleep tugging at the corners of her mind. The result was that her normal sharp senses did not register the sound of faint footsteps closing in on her.

"_Message 3." _

This time no words were forthcoming, only that of a person taking a few deep breaths before the line was disconnected.

"_Message 4."_

A few more deep breaths were heard without the sounds of any voice to identity the caller.

This time she frowned and opened her eyes but then discarded the two messages as that of a prank caller before putting her head back down on the soft, inviting fabric of her allocated headrest. The shadow had frozen in its tracks when she moved but continued on its trek when it appeared that she was about to go back to her state of semi-sleepiness.

"_Message 5." _

"_Ms Parker…," a wheezy breath tore through every syllable, "the fact that your cellphone is off is unacceptable. You will do well to remember where your alliances are _supposed_ to lay."_

"Take a hike Mr Sneezy," she slurred over her speech, feeling the effects of the alcohol and deep sleep closing in on her. The shadow took another few steps closer from the darkness to enter the light surrounding her sofa. It slowly transformed into the visual image of a dark-clad man with a mask covering his face.

"_Message 6." _

Again it was the deep breathing. This time it was followed by something that sounded suspiciously like those of a woman pleading for help, but her words were muffled by something that covered her mouth.

But…

At this stage the woman on the sofa was far lost in dreamland, snoring only slightly as proof.

_Message 7." _

_"Ms Parker, this is Sydney. Broots informed me that he was unable to get hold of you and I told him that you didn't feel well and have taken the night off. Raines were also looking for you, but I informed him that you wouldn't be back in the office until tomorrow morning. Please remember to phone me when you arrive home so that I can know you are alright." _

"_End of new messages,"_ the machine concluded and went quiet at the same time as the masked man jumped forward to put an ominous looking cloth over Ms Parker's mouth and with his other arm he pushed down hard on her body to prevent her from trashing around.

Years of training enabled her to wake up almost instantaneously and without thinking twice she lashed out with her free hand to try and slap her attacker's hand away. When it did not appear as if he was relenting she scratched with her long nails across the only bare flesh, his wrist, resulting in deep dark gashes to appear on his skin and some minor blood flowing.

It caused the man to yelp softly in pain and when she felt his hold on her relinquishing slightly she rolled off the sofa and tried to jump to her feet but the world suddenly started spinning around her.

Unable to keep upright she collapsed on the floor. At the back of her mind she registered that whatever was on the cloth that her attacker had forced over her mouth was strong and was busy taking an effect on her. Also she realized that unless she did something immediately she was going to loose consciousness pretty soon and as such gave complete control over to the invader to do with her whatever pleased him.

Despite the fact that she was on the loosing end of a battle she refused to give up. Biting on her bottom lip hard, hoping that the pain would give her the edge to remain awake, she started crawling in the direction of the table where she last left her jacket and as far as she could remember her gun.

Her attacker, realizing her plan, chuckled softly and leaped forward. Just as he was about to wrap his hands around her ankles in an attempt to drag her towards him she suddenly strike out with her leg to kick him full force in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards a few steps.

Without waiting to see if he was going to recover she continued with her crawl toward the table, praying that she would have enough time to reach the safety of her weapon.

At that moment her phone started ringing and after a couple of tries, both parties in the house appeared nearly frozen at this sudden invasion in their survival dance, switched over to her answering machine.

"Ms Parker, it's me Jarod," at hearing his voice she mumbled, "Jarod," and with a great lot of effort tried to continue onwards, to reach the phone before he hung up on her. She was sure that if she could only answer that call he would be able to find a way to protect her against the evil that had invaded what used to be her only sanctuary, her house. The table was now only a few feet away from her but even that seemed like a huge distance to her drug-induced body and mind.

"Your cellphone was off and Sydney told me that you weren't feeling well and that you went home early. I…I just thought that I'll call to see how you were doing and –"

The rest of his sentence disappeared into the background noise as the attacker finally overpowered her. Sitting down on her legs he pushed her arms above her head with one hand, to prevent her from attempting another escape, and started fumbling in his jacket's pocket with his other hand.

Feeling an intense anger burning in her soul at her lack of strength and resulting helplessness she resorted to her only remaining option. "Who the hell are you! What do you want from me! I work for an powerful organization and they will hunt you down and feed your own balls to you if you hurt me in anyway," she spat at him, furor spread across her face but inwardly she could feel fear forming in her heart.

Her aggressor chuckled again and leaned forward to place his mouth against her ear, "You know you are really beautiful when you are angry."

Her eyes immediately widened in shock and with her last ouch of remaining strength she was able to free an arm. Reaching out a hand she snatched at the mask covering his face and removed it.

The last thing that she saw before the pin-prick of a needle against her arm caused her to loose her consciousness altogether, was the face of a mad man which would get to haunt her nightmares for many years to come.

* * *

He knew that she was out cold. After all he had designed the drug himself and had tested it on many innocent victims in the past to ensure its effectiveness. 

To play it safe he waited another two minutes before relenting his hold on her. Lifting himself from her unconscious body he walked back to his former hiding place, her bathroom, and removed the canister of petrol that he had stored behind the door with the intent to use later on.

Without a second thought he started pouring the contents of the canister all over the contents of the house, whistling softly as he went along, and once finished he went back to the bathroom.

Pushing the shower curtain to one side he stared down at the dead body laying in front of him in silent satisfaction for a while. The poor woman's eyes was completely blank and she was staring in horror at whatever was the last sight she had seen before death came to claim her. Her only crime had been that she bore an almost frightening resemblance to the unconscious woman laying on the other side of the house and as such had to pay with her life to satisfy the cravings of an insane human being.

Smiling he picked up the body, throwing it over his shoulder, and started making his way back to his former place of action. Not caring about respecting the dead he threw the body unceremoniously down on the floor before picking up the unconscious woman in his arms and exiting the house immediately. Since he had carefully planned for this day for a long time he did not need to remain in the house any longer than was needed.

Not long after his exit from the house a bomb that he had planted underneath her bed exploded in a big show of light, color and fire but by that time a car carrying two passengers was already on its way to whatever destination fate had determined.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

Thank you so much for all the reviews. Wow, seven for my first attempt. It made me a very very happy person.

Anyway it motivated me to write a second chapter quickly and I hope it will meet all your expectations.

xxx

**SURVIVAL – CHAPTER 2**

_Cold._

_Aching._

_Uncomfortable._

_Nauseous._

_Mouth dry._

_Where…where am I?_

Forcing herself to break away completely from the clutches of unconsciousness that threatened to overwhelm her once again, she groaned and tried to open her eyes.

Nothing…just utter blackness in front of her.

_What's going on here…am I blind…how did I get here?_

A multitude of thoughts tumbled through her mind in quick procession. Then upon realizing that she could not remember how she got to wherever she was a sudden burst of fear followed.

Blinking her eyes a couple of times she stretched out a hand, her whole body protested at this sudden movement of a limb, and waved it in front of her.

_I can see the outline of my fingers…so it must be the room that is dark._

To calm herself she took a couple of deep breaths and decided to start investigating her surroundings.

With her free hand she explored the area around her, trying to determine as to whether there was something, anything close at hand. When her hand did not connect with anything solid she proceeded to touch with her fingertips the surface that she was laying on – cold cement.

Feeling her strength slowly returning to her body she took a decision to at least make an attempt at standing or, at the very least, sitting up. Rolling on her side she pushed forcefully with both hands against the floor. She had barely reached something that might resemble a sitting position when she felt herself loosing all control over her motor functions; it resulted in her tumbling back to the ground unceremoniously.

Cursing under her breath at her lack of strength she laid in the same position for a little while, feeling slightly sorry for herself, before resolving to change her tactics, at least for the time being. Pushing herself up on her elbows she tried to crawl forward, to see if she could not maybe find something to heave herself up against. She had barely crossed a small distance when her one leg suddenly went taut and refused to continue onwards.

"What the hell?" she muttered and moved backwards until she was once again at her original spot. Refusing to give in to the limitation that had been inflicted on her body she clenched her teeth and used all of her strength to force herself into an upright position. When the world suddenly threatened to start spinning around her she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing in an attempt to steady herself.

After a while it seemed to work and uttering a soft sigh of relieve she opened her eyes again. Whether it was maybe her eyes that had adjusted to the darkness or real light that had invaded her surrounding area she had no idea but she was now able to make out the very faint outlines of the area around her.

It appeared that she was in a room barely bigger than the bathroom at her home and that there was nothing else in the room except herself and a door at the opposite end of the place.

Shaking her head, confused once again as to why she was in this strange place to begin with, she tried once again to stand up, to walk over to the door that might lead her to some answers, but found one of her legs giving in underneath her. Luckily this time, maybe she was more prepared for it the second time round, she fell to the ground more gracefully.

Feeling her temper flaring up she uttered a loud sound of disgust and slammed her fists against the floor before pushing herself into a sitting position once again. With her hands she started exploring her legs in an attempt at determining what the cause of the restriction on her mobility was.

It took only a couple of seconds for her hands to connect with something that felt like metal and that was surrounding her one ankle. Frowning at this unexpectedness she continued onwards with her exploration and after a little while her fingertips was able to discover the distinct outlines of a chain running from the metal thing that was embracing her leg to wherever its end was supposed to go to.

Not trusting what she had just felt she moved into a position that will enable her to see the guilty leg more closely and was rewarded with the sight of a solid metal cuff encircling her leg and with a thick metal chain running from it directly to the closest wall only a few feet away from her.

"What in heavens name is going on here!" she nearly yelled out of utter frustration, "And how did I get to end-up in this madhouse!"

_How did I get here? Think Parker, think._

She knew that her mind was still suffering from whatever affected her in the first place, causing her to struggle to think clearly, but not willing to wait until she was better she forced herself to painstakingly start with the retracing of her steps, right to her very last memory.

_Jarod phoned…_

_Muttered his usual incomprehensible words…_

_Felt my pathetic excuse for an ulcer taking me for a ride again shortly afterwards…_

_Told Sydney that I was going to leave early…_

_Drove home without any incident…_

_Entered the house and saw that everything was still in their usual place…_

_Phoned Sydney to tell him that I was fine…_

_Listened to my voice messages…_

_Fell asleep on the sofa…_

For a second she could not remember anything that might have happened after that and no matter how she strained her mind no more memories were forthcoming.

Just as she was about to give up and take her frustration out on the chain that was holding her in place the image of a very familiar man suddenly entered her mind.

_Lyle? What does that psychotic flesh eating SOB brother of mine have to do with all of this?_

And then suddenly, without warning, the rest of her memories started assaulting her without any mercy.

The hand over her mouth…fighting a loosing battle…Jarod phoning…trying to reach the phone but…he was suddenly on top of her…too strong…couldn't break free.

And then…

"_You know you are really beautiful when you are angry." _

LYLE!

"Oh my god," her hand went automatically to her mouth as the full implications of her situation was revealed.

_Lyle…it was…it was Lyle that attacked me._

All of her anger and frustration started pouring to the foreground and out of sheer hopelessness – and a deep sense of fear for the unknown future – she started pulling at the chain that was keeping her a prisoner and at the same time yelling into the thin air.

"Lyle! I know you are here somewhere you psychotherapy-needing…murderous… no-good…crazy-"

The semi-dark room was suddenly lightened up brightly, causing her to stop her actions in order to shield her eyes for protection.

Out of nowhere a ghostly voice penetrated the prison, mocking her with every word that was spoken.

"There used to be a princess, her father was in charge of a mighty kingdom. One day the princess' long-lost brother showed up at the palace. He was smitten with the idea of having such a beautiful, enchanted woman for his sister but alas…she refused to have anything to do with him…to give him what was due to him. Instead she promised her heart to a child-hood friend, a mere peasant that had grown up to be her father's archenemy. He told her a lot of lies…lies about her father, the King, and especially lies about her brother. As a result she decided to follow her heart, to turn her back on her brother, and she actually started to believe everything that this mere simpleton was whispering in her ear."

A pause followed before the voice continued in a softer, but clearly dangerous, tone, "But no more! The brother refused to give up on his sister. He decided that he will make her embrace the truth again, no matter the cost, and together they will get to rule the kingdom for eternity and beyond till-"

"What do you want from me Lyle!" she yelled out, anger and fear took turns intaking possession ofher face.

"You."

xxx

"This is Sydney," the older man answered his phone in his normal fashion. He had been working late in his office at the Centre in order to catch up with some outstanding paperwork and was just about to call it a day when the phone in his office started ringing.

"Good day Sir. This is Officer McDonough speaking. I apologize for phoning you at such a later hour but your details are written on a piece of paper I'm holding here in my hand."

Frowning, unsure as to what it was all about, Sydney put a couple of scribbled-on pages away in an official looking file before replying, "Yes Officer. What can I do for you?"

"Sir…uh…I don't know quite how to say this…uh…I assume you know a Miss M Parker?"

Fear and concern started tugging at the corner of Sydney's heart at the possible reason why the police would be phoning him regarding his colleague and friend but after a little while he decided to take the easiest route and to assume that maybe she went for a ride in her car, after she spoke to him earlier on that night, and that she was most probably caught speeding. After all it would not be the first time that she had done something like that and on a couple of occasions before, even since the supposedly death of her father, Mr Parker, she had contacted him whenever she was arrested for excessive speeding. Every time he had went to the police station to bail her out, had even tried to lecture her a couple of times on her driving habits, but each time she had just pushed his advice to one side with some sarcastic or snide remark about him that must stop being so over-protective of her.

Realizing that his thoughts had started to drift he coughed once before asking, "What is this all about Officer?"

The man on the other side of the line remained quiet for a few seconds before finally saying in his best attempt at a gentle and sympathetic voice, "Sir it is with uttermost regret that I must inform you that your friend's house exploded a couple of hours ago. The cause is yet undetermined. The fire department and police were summonsed by a mysterious caller that refused to be identified. Upon reaching the site there was basically nothing to be done and upon further investigation we discovered a badly burned body. Uh…one of the neighbors, an elderly man, identified the body as belonging to that of a Ms M Parker and he gave us your contact number. Apparently some time ago the victim gave him your number in case of any emergency and –"

Without bothering to listen to the rest of the conversation Sydney hung up the phone.

For a while he sat in silence, not moving except for the color in his face and fingertips that was slowing draining away to be replaced by a sickly ash-whiteness.

He could not believe it; he did not want to believe that she might actually be gone. He knew that on many occasions she had shared her fear with him. She was concerned that with her father gone and Raines being in control of the Centre her life was in jeopardy but she also admitted to him that she had no idea as to what to do or where to go. After all it was not as if she could just packed up and left and hope that the Centre would never try to find her or even worse give the order that she was to be considered expendable.

When he had suggested once that maybe she mentioned this to Jarod the next time that he phoned she openly laughed in his face and refused to even discuss the matter any further.

Shaking his head, almost like he was trying to deny what he had just been told, Sydney tried to stand up but immediately sank back into his chair.

"Surely she can't be dead…not her. Not Catherine's daughter," he whispered over and over again while a pair of salty tears rolled down his cheeks.

xxx

Somewhere, not far from Sydney, a pair of child-like eyes was looking down from behind an air-vent.

"Daughter scared. Sydney sad. Daughter in danger," an odd-looking man mumbled before turning around and making his way back to the heart, the inner darkness, of the Centre where he had been staying since he was but a small boy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the delay in posting. Have been sick for a little while but now I'm back. Also I had suffered from a little bit of writer's block but hopefully that is now solved.

xxx

**SURVIVAL – CHAPTER 3**

Music…

An intense, loud and horrible scratching noise assaulted her ears from all sides and had been doing so for an impossible long time.

Colors…

A multitude of bright, nauseous eyesore rainbows danced across the walls, floor and the ceiling. It was mocking her, taunting her, daring her to defy the existence of the torture she was going through.

And…

Above everything else there were the screams, whimpers and fearful cries of unseen women being played over and over again.

Curled up, eyes shut closed with hands pressed against her ears she tried to block out the colors and sounds but without much luck. She had given up a long time ago trying to be heard over the racket surrounding her. It did not even help to make an attempt at ignoring the torture since somehow it still found ways to invade her very being, to tear at her self-control and to make her feel like she was loosing her very sanity. It was now only a matter of survival to her.

What was even worse was the fact that she knew he was behind it all. The man that she was supposed to call her brother was solely responsible for her current suffering and whatever else might follow in the future. From his last spoken words she now knew beyond a doubt that he has some sick, twisted so-called destiny planned for her.

It was something that she did not even wanted to begin thinking about.

"Jarod," she suddenly whispered a name. She had no idea why she was calling out to him of all people but somehow just speaking his name gave her the hope and strength to hold on, at least for a little while longer.

xxx

He woke up drenched in sweat. His heart was pumping at a frenzied pace, the pupils of eyes was wide in shock and the vein at the side of his neck was beating to the rhythm of the fear in his soul.

For a couple of minutes he just laid quietly in his bed, his gaze staring into nothingness with deep lines of worry forming across his forehead.

He knew that he had just been dreaming about her.

He knew that she had been calling out to him.

He knew…he knew…

The last threads of the dream was slowing dissipating and no matter how hard he tried he just could not remember the rest of it, except maybe for the lingering feeling of utter certainty that she was in danger and in need of his help.

Wiping a hand across his damp forehead he shivered slightly before turning on his side, switching on his beside lamp and reaching for the cellphone that he always kept close at hand.

For a moment he hesitated, wondering as to whether he was not just giving in to a child's fear of a simple nightmare, but after a while he could no longer resist the intense need to know that she was safe.

He was just about to press the speed dial number for her when he stopped his finger a mere inch away from the button. After all what would he say to her? She was more than likely to laugh at him, followed by uttering something sarcastic before putting the phone down in his ear if he was to voice open concern for her.

Then there was also the fact that she had not answered any of his earlier calls, surely an clear sign that she did not wish to be reached…or could it maybe be an indication of something else?

Finally making up his mind he moved his finger slightly and pressed a button immediately next to the original one.

The phone just kept on ringing and after a while went over to voicemail.

Frowning he moved the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a while in confusion before trying the same number again.

Again it followed the same route than before.

"Come on Sydney…where are you?" he muttered under his breath before trying once again, this time tapping his fingers impatiently against the side of the phone.

He was just about to give up hope when suddenly, without warning, the phone was picked up on the other side but with none of the usual greeting that was expected.

"Sydney?" he queried after a couple of seconds, unable to fathom why the older man was not saying something, anything.

"Sydney?" he asked again, this time more concerned when something akin to a faint sob reached his ears.

"She's dead. Jarod, she's dead," the older man whispered and with that he gave confirmation to the fear that Jarod has been harboring in his soul ever since he had awakened from his nightmare.

xxx

He was siting at a lonely table in the corner of a lonely café with his head rested upon his arms.

He was so very tired due to having been deprived of peaceful sleep for the past few nights. His thoughts and dreams had been haunted by images and voices he could not even begin to understand and had been keeping him from a good night's rest for far to long.

He was still a young man, barely into his thirties, but already he had seen the best and worst that life could offer any person.

"Can I take your order?" a woman's voice pierced through the clouds of his semi-consciousness.

Lifting his head he stared at the waitress for a while in incomprehension. "Listen young fellow. You've been sitting here, half asleep, for far too long to my liking. Either you order now or –"

"Ethan."

"Excuse me?"

"Ethan. My name is Ethan," he whispered and just before putting his head back on his arms he added softly, "just coffee for me please."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

I've tried my best with this chapter.

I hope you will get to enjoy it but if you have any criticism please don't hesitate to share it with me. I love reviews, especially praises, but I can appreciate criticism because it is the only way I can improve on my writing.

xxx

**SURVIVAL – CHAPTER 4**

"Jarod…are you here," Sydney called out softly, making his way carefully around the rubble that covered the floor of the derelict warehouse he had been summoned to.

When no reply was forthcoming he took out a piece of crumbled paper from the pocket of his jacket and with narrowed eyes scrutinized the directions he had scribbled down barely an hour ago.

"Jarod?" he called out again after a couple of seconds, this time a bit louder.

"I'm here," a tired sounding voice echoed from somewhere at the back of the huge room and from the shadows a tall dark-haired man suddenly entered Sydney's viewing field.

For a while the former mentor and tutor just stared at one another, each of them acknowledging in silence the obvious emotional, and at times even physical, pain that were binding them now in a common purpose.

"Do…have you found out anything?" Sydney eventually managed to be the first one to break the uncomfortable silence.

Shaking his head at first, then realizing that he needed to say something, Jarod hesitated for a slight moment before replying, "No. I…after you told me I immediately went to the morgue but was informed that Ms Pa…uh…that the body had already been sent to the funeral parlor and-."

Jarod's eyes darkened and his face hardened before finally finishing his sentence, "when I spoke to the Funeral Director I was told that she had been cremated a couple of hours ago and that a family member had came to claim her ashes."

"Who was it…Lyle?" Sydney asked.

Sensing the non-spoken question hanging in the air Jarod nodded his head, "Yes." Seeing the sudden glimmer of hope forming in the older man's eyes he shook his head and crossed his arms. "I know what you are thinking and it was my first thought too but…I managed to have a look at the autopsy that was done and all the information regarding her appeared to be accurate."

"The Centre could have faked it. You know this as well as I do Jarod."

"I know," came a very soft reply, include a stone-hard face that changed to one of sadness. "I've considered that too but I was unable to find any connection between the Doctor that did the autopsy and the Centre. His record is completely clean."

"Then…it was definitely her?" A look of utter defeat passed across Sydney's face. Up to that stage he had hoped that maybe the whole situation was just one of the Centre's cover-ups, that somehow that place had decided to fake her death for whatever reason but all hope was now slowly fading from his heart.

"There's no doubt about it," Jarod barely whispered the last few words, almost like he was afraid to admit to the truth.

"I see," Sydney stated in an equal soft tone and adverted his eyes to the ground.

After a few seconds of trying to calm his inner turmoil Sydney finally looked up again and to his utter shock he could see a faint mistiness covering the younger man's eyes.

Smiling sadly he put his hand on Jarod's shoulder and asked softly, "Will you be alright?"

"I'm fine…it's just…" The rest of the words trailed off into nothingness.

"Just what Jarod?"

"Earlier on…just before I contacted you…I dreamed about her. I can't remember much of it except that she was calling out to me for help."

"It has been proven that in times of extreme emotional situations people that share or had share strong bonds their whole life can feel the pain or death of another and-"

"I know, I know," Jarod interrupted a bit harshly and took a few steps backwards, clearly indicating that he did not appreciate the psychological evaluation of the situation.

Seeing the hurt in Sydney's eyes Jarod stopped in his tracks and apologized, "I'm sorry. I guess…no…it's just it is all so surreal. I just can't believe that she's actually gone. Also the dream was so real, it was like I could reach out a hand to touch her."

Sighing Jarod shook his head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs in his mind, "But I guess you're right about the dream but one thing I believe…know…that explosion was no accident and I'm going to proof that one way or another."

"You think the Centre is behind this all?"

"When is the Centre not involved in something?" Jarod retaliated with a question of his own. "They must have decided that she was getting to be far too much of a risk."

"She has voiced her concern a few times in the past regarding Raines' hostility towards her," Sydney tried to offer some useful advice.

Narrowing his eyes Jarod got a far-off look in his eyes before answering, "Raines…Lyle…Cox. Anything is possible but one thing I can promise you is that I won't rest until I've found out the truth. It is the least I can do to honor her memory."

xxx

He had just finished his last coffee and was basically forced out of the café by the waitress.

Unwilling to put too much attention on himself he had relented and after having paid the bill, minus a tip, he had left the place and started making his way slowly down the street with hunched shoulders.

He had barely taken a couple of steps when a familiar voice suddenly tore through his mind, "Ethan!"

Stopping he shook his head and mumbled, "Not now. I'm too tired, not now."

Raking a hand through his hair he waited a few seconds before continuing walking.

"Ethan, she needs you! Ethan I need you! Now! Now!" Without warning a multitude of voices invaded his thoughts, some sounding like his long-dead mother and others like the older sister he had only became acquainted with few years ago.

Stopping in his tracks, ignoring the few curious onlookers, he frowned and whispered, "What? What do you want? I don't understand!"

"Sir, you're okay?" a young boy of about nine years asked but his mother pulled him to one side and scolded, "What did I tell you about talking to strangers!"

Ignoring them altogether Ethan tried to take another few steps, this time across the street, hoping that maybe he could evade the invasive voices altogether.

"Ethan!" a woman's image slowly formed in front of him.

"Mom?" he asked, confused because the image kept on changing to that of his older sister and back.

"Ethan!" the image cried out again, reaching out both hands toward him in a pleading gesture.

"Ms Parker?" he tried again and started walking towards the image, totally mesmerized by what he was seeing and oblivious to his surrounding area.

He was about halfway in the street when the figure all of a sudden called out, "Be careful of the man you call brother," before fading away quickly.

That was also the last thing that he saw before reality enforced itself in the form of a blaring horn and screeching tires followed by an intense pain and total blackness.

xxx

It had stopped - The music, the noise, the flashing lights and most importantly the horrible screaming voices.

Just as suddenly as it had started it had stopped.

Sitting up slowly she took a couple of deep breaths. A migraine was assaulting her head from all sides and her eardrums were still thumping to the previous assault on them. Closing and opening her eyes and turning her head to all sides she inspected her surroundings, almost too afraid too believe that the torture had actually stopped.

It took her only a couple of seconds to compose herself and to reach something that resembled her former self.

"So what...is that all you have for me dear brother?" she yelled out sarcastically, more out of an attempt to gain some of her former bravery than to really challenge him.

She waited for a little while longer but when no reply or reaction was forthcoming she added, "Fine. So you've proven to me what I've already known for a long time – you are completely and utterly mad. But what's new there? Oh wait! You've also shown me that you're not only that but also a complete coward. You'll rather try to impress me with some poor taste in music and some cheesy room decoration in the form of colors than face me yourself."

Again she held her breath in anticipating of any sort of reaction but still nothing happened.

Feeling frustration and anger taking control of her she snapped and called out, "Damn you Lyle! Do you really think you can get away with this? By know everybody that is everybody knows I'm missing and they are most probably looking for me already. The Centre, Sydney, Broots…hell even Jarod, you are going to have a wonderful time deciding who's wrath you want to face first regarding my disappearance."

Biting on her lip she continued on in the most sarcastic voice she could manage when still not reply was heard from Lyle after a while, "Oh…yeah I see. You are hoping to psyche me out with your silence. I'm flattered but it is definitely not going to happen. It will take much more for me to give in to whatever stupid plan you have with this whole sick setup."

"They say silence is golden," an answer finally came out of nowhere.

"Finally decided to honor me with your words?" she retaliated.

A chuckle was heard, "So what did you think of it?"

"About what," she turned her head to all sides, hoping to find some sign of speakers or cameras to give her an idea as to how he was monitoring and communicating with her.

"As in your own words Sis – the music and cheesy room decoration…was it to your liking?"

Laughing in unbelief she remained quiet for a second before answering, "Have anybody ever told you that you need to see a shrink?"

"Has anything ever told you how beautiful you are?"

At the uttering of the very suggestive words she could feel a cold shiver running down her spine, "So what…you want to reeducate me to support you in some twisted plan to take over the Centre? Been there, done that…not going to happen." She could hear a small quiver of fear in her voice and could only hope that he has not picked up on it too.

"Is that fear in your voice I'm hearing Sis? Who could have thought that Ms Parker can actually shown fear at anything."

His voice went down a few octaves before he continued, "But…that's something I'm more than willing to investigate further. To be honest it is actually a quite exciting prospect for me."

Suddenly feeling very tired she asked, "What do you want Lyle? Money? I don't think Raines or the Centre will be willing to pay anything for my release. Power? You are more than capable to manage it on your own without the need to kidnap me for whatever sick reason your brain may be harboring. So what is it? What in god's name did you think you might be achieving by this all?"

Her only answer was another laughter.

"You know it won't be long before I'm found?"

"That's true but only if they still believe you are alive."

"What are you talking about?" Feeling a cramp she stretched out her leg and started massaging it.

"It is quite simple. I've faked your death in a rather clever way, even if I have to say so myself. Therefore…nobody will come knocking here any time soon."

That same cold dreariness took control of her again, "First of all I don't believe you and secondly…so what! What in heaven's name do you want from me Lyle, except for maybe a bullet through your head if I'm ever to lay my eyes on your ugly mug again?"

A long silence followed.

"You still don't understand? After all this time you still haven't figured it out? I want you. With me, at my side, ruling the Centre with me the way it's supposed to be."

"We were already doing that your moron!" she yelled out again, her heart was beating at a furious pace as she tried to deny what she could clearly sensed in his words.

"Maybe…but you still need to love me the way you are supposed to," he answered after a while.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

Right…herewith chapter 5.

Just want to say something quickly: If you find any mistakes in this chapter please accept my humble apologies. You see my mothertongue is Afrikaans not English so I do sometimes get confused in trying to think in a foreign language. Also this chapter was not beta'd (neither was the previous ones) so all mistakes are only my own.

Lastly I just want to warn that this chapter contains violence and for a while I was considering changing this chapter to a higher rating but after having reread the story I realized I wasn't that graphic and decided to rather keep the rating on PG-13.

Just be warned that some of the contents may be too much for sensitive viewers but I have to add (or at least I hope) that I have written Ms Parker as strong and rather a survivor than a victim. Please read through the whole chapter then you'll know what I'm talking about.

xxx

"We were already doing that your moron!" she yelled out again, her heart was beating at a furious pace as she tried to deny what she could clearly sensed in his words.

"Maybe…but you still need to love me the way you are supposed to," he answered after a while.

xxx

**SURVIVAL – CHAPTER 5**

'…_but you still need to love me the way you are supposed to.' _

At these words she went completely ice-cold. There was no more denying what his intentions toward her were.

"I'll rather die than let you lay your filthy hands on me!" she spat out. She had hoped that her words would come out strong but instead the apprehension that she was feeling was discernible in every single syllable. Feeling very exposed she moved as far back from that door as was possible and crossed her arms in front of her to cover her shivering body.

He laughed again, loud and clearly taking a delight in her reaction.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this day," he spoke up after a while, "all the planning and patience was really worth it. I finally have you right where I always wanted you to be."

She did not reply, only took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"Lost for words?" he asked after a slight pause.

"You won't get away with this," she merely stated in response.

"Oh, I already have, I already have. Haven't you been listening?" The words came out mockingly; he was enjoying every moment of their bantering.

"So what next? You'll just come in here and-" she swallowed before continuing, "and have your way with me?" Feeling a bit more bravado coming back to her she added, "Only over my dead body."

"Oh that can be arranged…eventually," he said in a menacing tone of voice, "but not right now. First I'm going to have a bit of fun."

Before she could respond to his threat the clear sound of a lock being opened was heard followed by that of her door screeching open and ending with a blinding light infiltrating her prison.

Shocked at this abrupt change in his tactics she tried to put more distance between her and the door but her chained leg prevented her from having any success.

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden invasion of light she was at first only able to see the outline of a man standing in the doorway. He took a step forward and she was finally able to make him out to be…

"Lyle," she whispered under her breath.

He did not say anything except to take another few steps forward and then sat down on his haunches. For a long time no words were uttered from his lips, only his eyes kept on roaming over her face and body, lust clearly visible in his eyes.

An ice-cold hand wrapped itself over her heart and she was unable to prevent herself from going over numerous scenarios as to what the immediate future might bring for her, none of them was providing her with any promise that it might be to her benefit.

When after a couple of minutes he still did not act in any way she scrunched her face and growled at him, "What!? You like what you are seeing or are you just too much of a coward to do anything but talk?"

Immediately after the words had been spoken she felt herself regretting and cursing her quick temper, there was no need for her to go and encourage him in any way.

A half-moon smile started spreading across his face. His eyes darkened a bit. "All in good time Sis, all in good time. First I'm just admiring what I'm about to have."

She turned her head slightly to one side. The emotions on her face moved from disbelief, shock, fear and loathing to one of total revulsion and back.

"I take my words back," she dared to speak after a while in a near hissing tone of voice, "You're not mad. You are completely, utterly, in need of someone to help you out of this world and I'll be the first one to volunteer."

His smile widened, "And your words are getting less and less interesting. In fact it is starting to bore me."

Standing up slowly he took another few steps forward, but made sure that he staid out of her reach, just in case.

Having picked up on this she asked mockingly, "Scared I might hurt you and prevent your carefully planned-out madness?" Her words belied her own demeanor. She was sitting with her knees pulled up against her chest, or at least as far as was possible, and her hands were clenching and unclenching in fists against her side, ready for whatever action might be required from her. She was definitely not planning to just allow him to have her in whatever way pleased him.

"Scared that I might actually succeed?" He retorted back.

Lifting her chin up she stared at him with all the hate she was able to master, "Never."

Smiling he took another step forward until he was able to sit right next to her.

It was exactly the opening that she was waiting for.

Without any hesitation she immediately launched out with her open palm at a lighting speed towards his face, hoping to catch him off-guard and if possible to get some sort of control over the whole situation that way.

"Oh no you don't," he said very calmly and without appearing to waste any excess energy he grabbed hold of her arm and twisted it around until she had no choice but to moan softly in pain. With her free hand she tried to break his solid grip on her arm on her but instead he backhanded her so violently that her head snapped to one side and she felt sideways towards the floor, landing with a soft, "oomph," on her side.

He was immediately on top of her, rolling her with one movement onto her back and sitting with his full weight on her legs. For a while she was unable to offer any resistance as her ears was still ringing from the violent attack on her head.

It was only when she started to feel his hot breath on her neck that she finally came back to full reality. With all the strength she could mastered she twisted her body from side to side, her legs was useless due to the near dead weight on them, and brought up her hands to push against his chest, trying to get him off her. At the back of her mind she was cursing herself for her lack of physical strength which she knew was due to the lack of appetite and abuse of alcohol that had been part of her life for way too long.

Instead he captured the side of her neck with his mouth, kissing and slightly sucking on the exposed skin, ignoring any of her attempts to free herself of his hold.

The more she felt his lips exploring her neck the more desperate she became. She realized with a sinking feeling that unless she did something to stop him her world would never be the same again. She also knew from years of experience that she needed to stay calm, now more than ever, since any sort of openly displayed panic would only encourage him further and even prevent her from thinking with a clear mind.

When he moved his head a bit higher to start nibbling on the side of her lips and she could feel his hands fumbling with the top of her shirt's button, his attention obvious a bit distracted from her attempts to free herself, she decided to make her move quickly and without any hesitation. For a moment she forced her body to go still, to pretend like she was going to offer no more resistance, and when she could feel his hold on her ceasing just a little bit she lashed out a hand and with her semi-long nails she raked him across the face, from just below the eye bank of his left eye straight down his cheek and ending just slightly above his lips.

Utterly a loud sound of pain, shock and surprise he let go off her but did not move off her legs. Instead he just clutched the side of his face where long thin red marks with blood flowing slightly from it could be seen.

It was the opening that she had been waiting for. She immediately followed up her attack with a well calculating fist against the side of his neck. She was hoping to hit his main vein in the process, knowing that if she was successful it would stun, maybe even kill, him and as such provide her with the upper hand.

Just at the last moment he somehow managed to pull himself together and with a loudly uttered, "bitch," he moved his head away in time and retaliated with grabbing hold of her arms with his and pushing them above her head.

Feeling all hope disappearing like mist in front of the sun she did the only thing she could think off in the heat of the moment – spitting in his face.

It did not help her in anyway, except to maybe provide her with a small amount of satisfaction in seeing her spit mixing with the blood of her previous attack and subsequently dripping down his face. For a little while she could not help but getting a childish delight out of seeing the disgust forming in his eyes.

It was only for a little while.

With his one hand he kept her arms locked in one place while his other one started encircling her neck, slowly but steadily beginning to strangle her. Horrified she could see his head moving towards her face again.

"I'll have to teach you a lesson," he whispered in her ear and increased his hold on her neck. She tried to resist, to found someway to loosen his grip on her arms but it only resulted in him appearing to get angrier and increasing his grasp on her neck.

After a while it felt like her eyes were becoming heavy in their sockets, her tongue was transforming to something dry and alien in her mouth and she could sense, see and feel the earth dancing at a terrifying speed around her. She knew that she was close to loosing consciousness but was unable to do anything to prevent it; he was just too strong for her. The small part of her mind that was still open to rational thought was amazed at the concept of this but then for whatever strange reason a memory of long ago came to the foreground. It was something about mad people being unusually strong and how it sometimes required a couple of strong men just to subdue one of them.

She could feel his lips on her again, this time it was claiming her face and mouth with excess force. She made a feeble attempt at trying to turn her face away from him but instead he just laughed softly under his breath and increased his terrifying strength on her neck.

It was just as a complete blackness begun to overwhelm her senses that he removed his hand from her neck. She was unable to prevent herself from coughing a few times and taking in a deep breath, trying to get some much needed oxygen to her lungs. For a moment she was grateful for just that one small mercy, hoping irrationally that maybe he was regretting his actions or that everything would turn out just to be a nightmare.

Her hope only lasted until she could feel his hand pulling the corners of her shirt from her pants and after a couple of seconds of hardly any struggle from him or her she could feel the coldness of his persistent hand on the bare flesh of her stomach.

A lone tear ran down her cheek at the frustration of her own complete hopelessness. Never before in her life had she ever felt it in such an intense way. She was scared and afraid. She had always knew that as a woman there was always a good chance that she might be attacked, even raped in her life, but never could she have fathom that it might happen at the hands of her own brother.

His hand continued moving over the bare flesh of her stomach, caressing and groping at the same time. It moved upwards until it just reached the edge of her bra, teasing with his fingertips over the soft feminine material that was still dividing them.

She had no idea where she got the strength from for just as he tried to force his tongue between her lips she moved her head slightly and bit down - hard.

At first she was unsure as to whether it was his tongue or his bottom lip that she had but she anyway refused to let go, instead she bit down a bit harder and could feel blood starting to pour over her gums.

It was only when he groaned loudly in pain, snatched away his roaming hand and tried to get off her that she reluctantly let go of him. He immediately rolled off her and scrambled into some sort of a sitting position a safe distance away from her.

In return she forced herself to sit up too with her fists slightly raised into the air in front of her.

For a while both attacker and victim glared at each other in silence, the one with menace in his eyes the other with a complete hatred.

Tentatively he lifted his hand to touch his injured lip. Teeth marks were clearly visible around his bottom lip and on more than one place the skin was either bruised or broken. When he removed his fingertips after a second it came away with bright red blood all over them.

He stared at his wet fingers with wonder and amazement, the emotion on his face clearly indicating that he found it impossible to believe what she had just done to him.

Sure that she was reading his reaction correctly she hissed between her teeth, "And you deserved it you fucking bastard. There's no way that I will just allow you to rape me without offering some sort of resistance."

The confused emotion on his face gradually transformed into a huge grin and the dark glance in his eyes changed to one of utter amusement.

"What is so funny?" she asked, her eyes narrowing while her face was still twisted in hate.

"Oh nothing…just admiring your handiwork," he answered and followed his reply up with a soft chuckle.

"Well…," she struggled to find the correct words but knew that she needed to make him keep on talking in order to divert his attention from the idea of maybe finishing with what he had started off with. A sarcastic smile suddenly lined her lips, "Why don't you come over here and I promise to do something more permanent with your ugly mug."

His hand gently reached for his lip again before he replied with humor still visible audible in his voice, "Maybe another time. For now I had enough fun for one day."

Standing up he shook his head slightly and started walking to the door. Just before he exited he paused and then as a sort of an afterthought called over his shoulder, "After all I wouldn't want to have my fun all at once and spoiler any future excitement."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the previous reviews. I'm a bit concerned about the fact that I only got two reviews for chapter 5 since for all my previous chapters I got an average of five to six. I promise I'm not one to threaten to stop writing if I don't get adequate reviews…in fact as long as I know at least someone is reading my story I will continue with it…but it will be nice to know that my story doesn't suck or something.

I can only hope that the reason for the lack of reviews is due to the fact that it is currently the holiday season or at least something in that line.

Anyway herewith Chapter 6, hope you'll enjoy it and please feel free to offer me any criticism as you may see fit.

xxx

**Chapter 6**

He did not want to do it…but he knew there was no other option available to him.

After all he was a pretender, a genius, and this was what he did best. He knew that from his years as her childhood friend and the past couple of years of observing her, sometimes with her knowledge and sometimes without, he was uniquely qualified for the task at hand.

Glancing one last time around him, to make sure that he was not being observed, Jarod ducked underneath the yellow police tape stating, 'No Entry,' to enter the remains of what used to be Ms Parker's home.

Closing his eyes he remained standing inside the flimsy burned-out doorframe in order to allow himself a bit of time to take a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. If somebody told him a year ago that he would ever need to re-enact her last few moments on earth in what used to be her only sanctuary he would have surely laughed and told that person she was more likely to meet her end at the Centre. But it had happened here…at her house and he would forever feel at least partially responsible for the fact that he had been unable to prevent it.

Swallowing to clear the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him he shook his head and whispered to himself, "Or maybe if I knew what the future would bring I would have managed the courage to tell her how I feel."

Taking one last breath he opened his eyes and went through a couple of well-practice exercises to clear his mind of any unnecessary thoughts and to start with the reason why he had come out here in the first place.

After a while of staring at the destruction around him he suddenly realized with surprise and a bit of shock that he was still struggling to discipline his mind to focus on the task at hand. For a moment he was unsure as to how to proceed but after a little while he decided to try and give expression to his thoughts as he went along with the pretend, hopefully that would enable him to concentrate better. It was not something that he usually did when he was by himself but desperate times called for desperate actions.

Turning slightly around he gently stroke with his fingertips across the black remnant of what used to be the entrance to her house.

"She came home late…" he whispered, "before opening the door she would have turned around to stare at the darkness around her to make sure that no Centre operative was spying on her from the bushes or trees."

Taking a few steps forward he bent down to look at a small rectangular box against a partially standing wall. The box was barely noticeable due to the recent fire that caused its almost complete destruction. Deep in thought he murmured to himself, "Sydney said that she phoned to tell him that she had arrived safely. She would have consumed either Brandy or Vodka afterwards to try and relax and calm her nerves after another senseless day at that place, most probably felt her ulcer complaint in the process. As a sort of an afterthought she might have checked her answering machine for any messages."

Straightening himself Jarod walked over to where her sitting room used to be. The only thing that remained of what he knew was her favorite sofa, something that came from the days that the house used to be her parents summer home, was a unrecognizable twisted monster of material, wood and something that resembled plastic.

Here he sat down on his haunches and closed his eyes before continuing his pretend, "Was very tired. While listening to her messages she curled up on the sofa, allowed her normal mask of indifference to fall away in the privacy of her own home, maybe she even felt sleep creeping up on her."

He remained on the same spot for a while, hoping that something more would come to him but after a while of no such luck he stood and in an almost trance-like state walked over to the bathroom. He had no idea why he felt the need to investigate the bathroom next but years of encouragement from Sydney and even real-life experience at pretending have taught him to trust his instinct, even if it did not always made sense.

Entering the bathroom he stopped and closed his eyes again for a couple of seconds. "Could someone have been waiting for her to come home? Someone with an ulterior motive…this place would have been the perfect spot to hide from view. It was near enough to watch her every move without being noticed and -," Jarod swallowed once before completing the sentence, "close enough to overwhelm her when needed, to prevent her from reaching safety in time."

Opening his eyes he stared around the room for a very long time. "Talk to me Parker. What had happened to you here? Were you murdered or was it really just a senseless accident?"

Shaking his head, feeling his emotions suddenly forcing themselves to the foreground and all attempts at pretending vanishing from his mind, he leant with his back against the remainder of a wall and slowly sunk down until he was able to sat down on the soot-covered floor.

"I…I just can't believe that you are dead," he addressed the air around him, "Not you. Not you off all people…and that dream I had…it is difficult to just forget that you were calling out to me for help." Feeling a tear forming at the corner of his eyes he wiped at it with his one hand before continuing, "Damn you Parker, you were supposed to be able to look after yourself and look now…"

Shaking his head again, feeling like the world was becoming too much for him to bear, he hugged his knees against his chest and with his head supported on his arms he allowed his emotions free run.

After a very long time of not moving at all except for the very slight shaking of his shoulders he lifted his head and wiped away at his face. His red-trimmed eyes first appeared to be dark and dull but slowly a light started shining in them again as a thought came to mind. Reluctantly he stood and without glancing one last time at the room he exited and went back to where the sitting room used to be…something was definitely tugging at the back of his head but he struggled to form the correct words to give expression to it.

"What…" he bit on his bottom lip and narrowed his eyes, "What if you aren't dead? What if you had curled up on the sofa and-" he stared back at the former entrance to the bathroom before adding, "what if someone had been observing you from the dark?"

Feeling a small glimmer of home forming in his heart he wiped a tired hand over his face, "That person or even persons could have been waiting for you to relax, maybe even fell asleep. Slowly they…no…it was most probably just one person and a man…makes more sense…he would have approached you carefully, quite aware of your reputation. He could have had something in his hand to subdue you…chloroform…even something stronger."

A very faint, but sad, smile formed across Jarod's lips. He had no idea as to whether he was actually pretending or merely daydreaming. It was something that had never happened to him before, or at least not since he was a very small boy. He realized that he was just too close to the whole situation to think rationally, despite what he had tried to convince himself before coming over to her place, and also there was the fact that he was more tired than he had been in a very long time. He was also quite aware of the fact that maybe he was merely trying to offer his heart the hope that there was still a chance for her to be alive but he just could not stop himself from carrying on with this line of thought. He wanted, needed, to continue with it until the end, even if it proved to be fruitless.

"He overpowered you…but just for you a little while since you fought back with all your power. There was an intense struggle…he even might have gotten hurt in the process."

Scrunching up his forehead Jarod appeared to be deep in thought before carrying on, "Something happened. There was someone at the front door or the phone might have rung. It startled him…he didn't expect someone to try and reach you so late at night. He knew that the only people that might try to reach you were Sydney and Broots and he had made sure about where they would be that night before beginning his plan of action."

Walking past the remains of the sofa and back to the where her telephone used to be Jarod continued talking, "It might have given you hope that rescue was on the way. You felt some of your strength returning, maybe another struggle followed but…he overpowered you and…could you maybe have seen the identity of your attacker before…before your death…no…not death…maybe before you were taken to wherever?"

For a while Jarod stood still, hoping that something more, anything, would come to his mind but nothing happened. All that kept on flashing through his mind is the terror that she must have felt during her last few moments in that place.

After a few seconds he sighed and turned around a couple of times to make sure he had not miss out on something that might provide him with a little bit of more evidence. Not that he had much hope since everything was either burned to a crisp or beyond any visible recognition. If it had not been for the many times he had broke into her house for whatever reason he would not even have been able to distinguish between the remains of the different rooms and some of the furniture.

"Right…what facts do I have," he spoke as his eyes kept on scanning the surrounding area, "From the police reports and what I've seen so far it is clear that some sort of explosion happened here. Also everything was destroyed in either the explosion or in the resulting fire. The emergency services responded quickly but at that stage there was no hope of salvaging anything. They also gave an inconclusive report as to what might have caused the explosion. They found some evidence of petrol but stated that it could be a sign of sabotage or might just have been some residue from her car that had been parked in the garage right next to the house."

"So what do I have…nothing. Absolutely nothing to give me any idea as to who might be behind this all." Shaking his head in disgust at the incompetence of the emergency services and even himself for not doing much better he decided to leave the place before someone noticed him and to rather come back another day if need be. Glancing one last time around him he exited the remains of her house and briskly walked to where he had parked his car a couple of blocks away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

Thank you so very very much for the reviews I got for the previous chapter.

Hope you will enjoy the next one too.

xxx

**Chapter 7**

"Sydney!" a nearly bald man, dressed in a brightly colored shirt and a mismatched pair of pants, called out as he came barging into the room, clearly excited, even a bit agitated, by what he had just seen.

Scanning the big area that acted as both his colleague's office and laboratory he nervously chewed on his bottom lip before calling out again, "Sydney, are you here?"

"Over here Broots," he heard his name being called softly from somewhere at the back of the room and without a moment's hesitation he hurried over to where he thought the voice had been coming from.

"Sydney guess what! He's…" he started of, out of breath, but as his mind finally registered that something was amiss with his friend, his words trailed off into nothingness and instead he asked, "Why are you sitting here in the dark by yourself?"

Wiping away with his finger at the corner of one eye the older man rose slowly from the wooden bench he had been sitting on and in a husky voice he replied, "Do you know it happened exactly a week ago?"

"What…oh…t-the thing with Ms Parker," looking uncomfortable Broots added softly, more to himself than addressing anyone in particular, "I know."

After second or two of slightly rocking on the balls of his feet and being obviously unsure as to whether he should express what was on his mind he finally said, "I…I miss her too…terrible…it is hard to believe that she is actually gone. If only…" Once again his words trailed off into nothingness.

Nodding his head in agreement Sydney rested his hand on his younger colleague's shoulder in silent commiseration and sadly whispered the same words that had been uttered by Broots only a few seconds before, "I know." For a few moments both men allowed their thoughts to be taken up with memories of their late friend. It was eventually Sydney that broke the silence by removing his hand from Broots' shoulder and straightening his shoulders before changing his demeanor back to the professional one that most people got to see every day. "So Broots…what was it that you wanted to tell me just now?"

"Uh…" swallowing Broots turned his face to stare nervously back towards the door he had just came from, almost like he was afraid that he had been followed, before answering, "You see I had been visiting Sabrina, you know the one with the one false arm and leg and boy-."

"Broots," was all that Sydney needed to say, his tone of voice clearly stating that he had no patience that morning for any long-winding story.

Blushing Broots murmured, "S-sorry," before continuing in a much more subdued voice, "I saw him."

Frowning, not understanding what he was talking about, Sydney asked, "Saw who?"

It was at that moment that a man suddenly entered Sydney's office, took a deep breath and without waiting for any acknowledgement exclaimed loudly, "Man it is good to be back."

Both Sydney and Broots turned around at once to stare at the intruder in what was their only sanctuary at the Centre, the one's face was impassive while the other one showed clear nervousness.

"Lyle," Sydney finally acknowledged him with a small nod of his head.

"What? I've been gone for a week and all that you can say is _Lyle_." Descending down a small flight of stairs Lyle started approaching them at a leisurely pace, his hands tugged inside his pants' pockets. His lips were twisted in a grin and from the glimmer in his eyes it was clear that he was in an extremely good mood.

"I thought you were taking time off to mourn your sister's dead," Sydney retaliated in a soft but dangerous tone. Having worked closely together and as such gotten to known his friend quite well Broots darted his eyes from Lyle to Sydney, he was quite sure he had sensed clear animosity coming from the older man but he was not sure as to the reason for it. After all Lyle had just lost his twin-sister and therefore, at the very least, surely deserved to get some sympathy from the two of them.

"Well…" taking a deep breath and slightly shrugging his shoulders while his smile increased in size at the same time, "you know me. I went, mourn and now I'm back, back to abiding to the Centre's every whim. That is the way my sister…" upon saying sister he turned his gaze mockingly to the ceiling, "bless her soul, would surely have wanted and maybe still want it to be. Besides I'm sure she is somewhere up there or-," his smile widened a bit more as he pointed a finger upwards, "most like down there-," his gaze moved from the ceiling to the floor to emphasize his statement, "but wherever her finally resting place may be I'm back."

"You sure don't look like someone that's been mourning his sister's death," Broots replied and immediately his eyes widened at the realization of the bravery he had just displayed.

At first Lyle said nothing, merely narrowed his eyes and walked forward until he was standing barely a few inches away from Broots. "Careful Mr Broots," he stated after a while, all signs of humor suddenly gone from his face and speech, "it will be wise for you to remember whom you are addressing here."

Swallowing, not quite sure how to respond, Broots could only manage to lower his head before nodding in reply.

Taking out a hand from his pocket Lyle patted the younger man on the cheek and in a condescending tone said, "Good boy."

During the exchange of words Sydney had said nothing but as Lyle was busy patronizing Broots he was unable to ignore the barely discernable, but still very much noticeable, scratch marks on Lyle's wrist. Frowning he turned his gaze upwards and could see something similar on his one cheek and small scabs zigzagging across his lower lip. From the rawness of the injuries on his face it was clear that they were acquired more recently than those on his wrist. Sydney was just about to remark on them when he suddenly noticed a faint powdery outline bordering each of the injuries and to his surprise he realized that make-up, clearly expertly applied, had been used to cover the full extent of the injuries.

"What?" Lyle snapped and suddenly turned his attention to Sydney, clearly having felt how the older man had been scrutinizing him.

Straightening himself Sydney stared at him for a couple of seconds before saying, "Nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing when you had been eyeing me like that just now." Lyle growled angrily.

Lifting his chin Sydney appeared deep in thought for a little while before finally replying, "Just couldn't help but notice the injuries you obtained. You must have gotten them…while you were away?"

Reaching out a hand to touch the side of his cheek and lower lip Lyle pretended to be confused before answering, "Oh…these. Totally forgot about them."

When neither Sydney nor Broots said anything a smile formed across Lyle's lips again and turning around he started walking toward the entrance door to the office. Over his shoulder he called out, "Don't worry about them guys. Got them during a fierce fight with a wild cat I had happened to acquire from a friend during the past week, but I can promise you that I won the fight and managed to subdue the angry feline."

As he opened the door to leave Lyle paused and appeared to be in thought for a second before adding, "Hopefully the creature won't take too long to learn who's in charge at the end of the day."

xxx

"Daughter hurt. Daughter in trouble, brother bad," Angelo whispered over and over again from where he had been observing the exchange of words from a hiding spot behind an air-vent.

When Lyle finally left the office after a while he shook his head. Turning around he put an old-looking DSA between his lips before crawling back the way he had came from. As he went along he murmured to himself, "Angelo help daughter."

xxx

"Doctor come quick," a nurse called out frantically before turning around and running back to a hospital room where the noise of people yelling, things falling and breaking, and above all the voice of a man shouting at the top of his lungs could be heard.

Frowning, unsure as to what was going on now in what was normally a very quiet hospital in a typical small American town, the Doctor in question rushed after the nurse without a moment's hesitation.

When he finally entered the room, that was making provision for four patients, he was at first confused as to what was happening in front of him.

A young man could be seen jumping from one bed to another, clearly trying to find a way out of the room while yelling all the time, "She needs me! Don't you understand…I need to go and save her!"

Surrounding him was two bulky security guards, a couple of nurses and in two of the other beds patients were staring at the commotion with shock and even a bit of amusement on their faces. Taking a step forward the Doctor noticed how some of the hospital staff were frantically trying to coerced the young man to come down from the beds, or at least to calm down, while others where threatening him with force if he did not comply immediately.

"What the hell is going on here!" the Doctor barked as he started to realize the full extent of the situation.

For a moment everybody went quiet at the sudden unexpected intrusion in their party of destruction.

"Please…" tears were running down the young man's face and he stretched a pleading hand towards the Doctor, "Please, let me go. She needs me."

"Who…" The Doctor started walking slowly toward the agitated patient, hoping that he did not appear threatening in any way, "Who needs you?"

"She needs me! She's in danger!" the man kept on repeating over and over again. His face was warning that unless he got some sort of assistance he was going do something irrational and very soon.

"What's your name Son?" the Doctor decided to try a different line of approach. Somewhere at the back of his mind he remembered how he read somewhere that the easiest way to calm down an agitated person was to establish a relationship of trust and to do that he needed to be able to start calling the person by his first name.

For a second the other man appeared to be confused, almost like he had forgotten his name, before finally answering, "Ethan. My name is Ethan."

"Well…Ethen-"

"Ethan," he was corrected immediately.

"Sorry…Ethan," the Doctor quickly covered his mistake. "What is this all about?" Upon saying that he waved his hand around the room to indicate what he was referring to.

"Just allow me to leave…please. That's all I want," Ethan whispered, his eyes were still pleading with the Doctor to understand his feeling of desperation.

"Uh…" The Doctor struggled for a while to think of anything to say next. After a little while he finally stated, "You were involved in quite a serious accident barely a week ago. Your one arm's fractured in a couple of places and needs time to heal and you sustained a bad knock to your head which I would like to monitor for at least a day or two more." Smiling he concluding softly in a condescending tone, "Maybe then we can discuss all of this again."

For a moment it appeared as if Ethan was going to comply, he even appeared to make an attempt to get off the bed.

It only lasted for a moment.

Pretending to stumble slightly as he was getting off he allowed one of the nurses that immediately rushed to his side to come close enough before, without warning, grabbing the poor woman with his one arm around the throat in a death grip.

"Get back or I'll snap her neck," he warned between clenched teeth.

"Whoa…nobody is going to hurt you," one of the guards tried to calm him down and at the same time to direct his attention from the other one that was trying to approach him slowly from behind.

Sensing the presence behind him Ethan turned halfway around with the woman still firmly pressed against his chest. "Get back!" he warned again in a threatening tone.

"Okay…okay. Whatever you say," the Doctor quickly interrupted; trying to calm down a situation that was threatening to return to the chaos of before. "Tell us what you want, just down hurt her," the Doctor added quickly when it did not appear as if he was going to get any reply soon.

"Nothing. I just want to go. Why can't you people understand it? Just-let-me-go," Ethan stated in irritation before slowly taking a few careful steps to the door, his eyes darting nervously between the different parties in the room.

"Okay…sure. Whatever you want," the Doctor stated calmly and took a step backwards, at the same time indicating with his eyes to the others to follow his example.

Ethan took another step towards the door. From the corner of his eye he noticed how one of the guards was trying to sneak up on him once again.

Turning in that direction he exclaimed, "I don't think so," before forcefully shoving the woman towards the guard and then, without waiting for any reaction, he made a dart for the door. He managed to dug between a couple of arms that tried to restrain him and also to jump over a chair that suddenly stood in his way before finally reaching the corridor and without any hesitation he started running at full speed towards the sign reading, 'Exit'. Somewhere behind him he could hear people shouting for him to stop but he ignored them, the only thought that he could concentrate on was the fact that he needed to find his sister before it was to late.

When he finally reached the double doors that would lead to his freedom he barged through them and only stopped once to quickly apologize to an old lady that he had almost run over in his haste to escape.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

Right…I think this next chapter might be a bit boring but I felt like I needed to write it in order to ensure everything made more sense etc.

I just want to mention that I struggled with some of the tenses (always get confused with that silly 'had' word) so if there are any mistakes in this chapter I apologize sincerely.

I would also like to use this author's note to thank the following people that has reviewed me up to now.

NYT, kevin, Eden, dolphin18paradise (like the name by the way), Jar-Par fan (took a while to figure out that your name meant Jarod-Parker fan), Marie55, rev2004, pretender fan, Lyn, Angelus Love, Sango2, leochick, slayer-P, Magie, ab and Ami4 – thank you so much for your reviews. If I forgot to add anybody's names please forgive me. Let me know and I promise to make it up to you.

I would especially like to thank ab – apparently a fellow foreigner in the strange world of the English language, for having gone through the trouble of reviewing me although you apparently don't do it a lot. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for that long, but very kind, words. I really appreciated that review.

Lastly I promise to shut up now in order to allow all of you to read the new chapter.

Happy New Year to all of you, may 2005 bring only happiness…oh and may my story not suck in the long run, hehe.

xxx

**Chapter 8**

After some struggle she had finally managed to find some sort of a comfortable spot against the wall where her chain was running from.

At that moment she was sitting with her back against what she thought felt like a stone wall. Her arms were hugging her knees against her chest and her head was leaning back against the welcoming coolness of the damp wall.

Every now and again she tried to swallow in an attempt to sooth the terrible thirst that had started to assault her throat some time ago. That combined with the severe growling of her stomach and the short stabs of pain coming from her ulcer told her that she must have been abducted from her house somewhere from a couple of days to a week ago.

Due to the ever-present darkness around she had completely lost track of time. Some time ago, shortly after she had awakened for the first time in her jail, she also discovered that her watch together with her shoes was missing, most probably she had her brother to thank for that.

Groaning slightly she grabbed a medium-sized plastic bottle, it had been laying for a long time next to her, and brought it to her mouth. After a second of sucking eagerly with her dry lips on the plastic straw that was sticking out from the tip of the bottle, she came to the awful realization that there was nothing left. Barely more than a drop of water had landed on her tongue and quickly evaporated in her dry mouth before it could even reach her throat. With disgust, even a bit of despair, she threw the bottle forcefully to one side.

She knew what he was trying to do to her. After all it was the oldest cliché in the handbook of abduction – if your victim were to become utterly depended on you for even the most basic need you have already won half of the battle.

Suddenly feeling very tired she closed her eyes and allowed her head to rest for a little while on her arms. As she felt her body beginning to relax a little bit she found herself unable to prevent her thoughts from returning to the recent past.

Lyle had left her cell quickly after the first attack. For a while she had remained in the same sitting position, her fists still slightly raised in the air. Only after she had heard the lock of the door clicking into place, followed shortly afterwards by the light in her room going dark, did she begin to feel the adrenaline slowly leaving her body.

At first she had allowed only her arms to relax against her side and was unable to tear her eyes away from the closed door, afraid that he might return again. Then, after a couple of minutes, she had begun to feel her heart's rhythm increasing followed by a sudden sensation of needles and pins forming in her fingertips. She knew then that she was busy going into shock, but had been just too tired and stunned to do anything more than lay down on the floor with her back towards the wall to enable her to continue viewing the door at all times.

For a few seconds she had remained in that position, a living statue, and then slowly her shoulders started shaking slightly as intense emotions threatened to overwhelm her. She had refused to cry, to show any sign of weakness, in case he might be watching, but it was a struggle. The horror of her narrow escape, the injuries she had obtained at his hand and the thought that she was doomed to be at the mercy of a madman for the rest of her life had been almost too much for her to bear.

Whether she had felt asleep or merely lost all conscious hold on reality for a while she would never know. She had only become aware of her surrounding area again when the terrifying sound of the door being open could be heard once again.

Immediately she had leaped to a sitting position, afraid but more than willing to defend herself at whatever cost. In the darkness she had only been able to discern the outlines of a figure standing silently in the doorway. The person had stood quietly for a long time, not uttering a single word or giving her any visible clue as to what was going to follow next, before bending over and rolling something over the floor until it came to a rest next to her one foot. "Make it last…I won't be back for a while," the person had said before turning around and exiting her room.

She had been hesitant, maybe even a bit scared, of the strange item she could feel laying against her big toe in the dark. Then slowly she had reached out and carefully investigated the item with her fingertips before picking up what she could discern to be a typical sport plastic bottle.

Unscrewing the cab she had smelled the contents of the bottle hesitantly – water. At first she had no plan to consume even a single drop of the liquid, there was no telling what her psycho brother could have added to it, but as time flew passed an all-encompassing thirst started forcing itself to the foreground. Then, after what had seemed like an eternity to her, she decided to take maybe a small sip, thinking that surely a small drop of water would not hurt her. One drop had let to more and before she could help herself a quarter of the bottle's content had been consumed.

More time passed and in the long run she had been completely unable to resist the temptation of quenching the almost unnatural thirst that seemed to be ever present. It eventually led to the situation where she had eagerly tried to force out the last drop of water in her mouth barely a few minutes ago.

Forcing her thoughts back to the present reality Ms Parker lifted her head from her arms and tried to swallow again, she never knew that it could be possible for something as plain as thirst to become such an overpowering sensation. She was also no longer sure what was worst - the complete darkness surrounding her, the terrible thirst or the hunger pains growling in her stomach.

For a moment she wondered if maybe her mad brother's big plan for her was to die from thirst and hunger in that hellhole, but then she remembered how he had told her she was supposed to make the water last because he would not be back for a while. If he had wanted her to die he would surely not have bothered to give her the water – he would just have allowed her to perish.

There was no doubt about it - he would be back.

Reaching out a hand she gently touched the side on her face where he had backhanded her and then slowly let her hand moved down to investigate the bruises around her neck which she had sustained during that attack too. Where at first the injuries had been very tender and swollen they at least appeared to be getting better now. If only the same could be said of the emotional wounds that had pierced through her soul during that attack.

Wiping a hand over her eyebrow her whole face twisted in a bitter grimace. She could not help but wonder as to whether she did not deserve what was happening to her. After all it was not like she had any reason to be proud of the life she had been living for the past couple of years…actually more like decades. Maybe fate finally decided to take revenge for all the years she had been tempting it and for all the times she had utterly disregard the feelings of those people that were supposed to be the closest to her.

Sydney…

Broots…

Even Jarod.

They were the only people left in her pathetic life that even remotely assembled something akin to friends, but at every corner she would insult, be sarcastic or even try to undermine them. Only a shameful few times had she really reached out a hand of friendship to them.

"They understand…they know why I need to be the way I am…it's the only way to survive that place," she whispered, trying to defend herself against the accusing voice in her head.

'_Sydney and Broots…maybe. But what about Jarod? What's your excuse for all the pain and hurt you have caused him?'_ the persistent voice asked again. _'You never had any reason to pretend in front of him.'_

"He run and I chase…that's the way it's supposed to be. Nothing is going to change that fact," she replied bitterly.

'_Then why doesn't your heart want to believe that anymore?'_ the voice inquired one last time before going quiet altogether as the sound of someone being busy on the other side of her door could be heard.

Shocked out of her own introspective she lifted her gaze towards the direction of the sound but did not say anything except to ball her hands in fists against her side and to clench her jaws.

She could hear the lock on the door being opened. Her heart started beating faster and sweat started forming across her forehead. As the wooden horror slowly opened she took a couple of deep breaths and could feel a shiver of fear running down her spine.

"Miss me?" Entering and taking a few steps forward Lyle hold his arms in the air in the personification of a typical television game host, his lips were formed in a big grin.

xxx

Angelo was sitting on his haunches behind the final division, an air vent that was between him and freedom from the Centre. He was waiting patiently for some sweepers in front of him to finish their smoke break and to start moving into the opposite direction.

"So she finally got what was due to her," Angelo could hear one of the sweepers addressing his colleagues.

"What are you talking about?" One of the others replied with a bit of irritation in his voice.

"The Ice-Queen. She finally got what she deserved…the Centre decided to get rid of her once and for all," the original speaker addressed the small crowd again with a big smile on his face, obviously taking a delight out of being the sudden center of attention.

One of the sweepers took a step forward with a frown on his face. Without warning he grabbed a fist-full of the guy's jacket and pulled forward him before hissing between teeth, "I hope you aren't talking about Ms Parker. Because if you are you better keep your crabby comments to yourself, that lady saved my butt on more than one occasion. I won't have her memories taunted by the likes of you."

"The same goes for me," one of the other sweepers added.

"Me too."

"Yeah man…rather shut your mouth or I'll do it for you," another said with a threatening tone to his voice.

That was the last that Angelo heard before the small crowd started moving away, still arguing, to wherever their intended destination was.

As soon as he was sure that they were out of sight he unscrewed the vent's cover and quickly made his way from out of his hiding place. Looking once left to right he pulled out a small brown bag from the vent and swung it over his shoulder. With one last final look behind him he whispered, "Timmy go save daughter," before hurrying across the grass that covered the grounds behind the one unused wing of the Centre and he immediately disappeared into the darkness of the wood before him.

xxx

Ethan was laying flat on his stomach on a hill, facing what appeared to be a abandoned warehouse, and was holding a pair of binoculars in front of his eyes.

Below him he could see a car stopping and a dark-haired man getting out. The man looked around once before making his way into the warehouse.

Removing the binoculars, putting them away in a bag against his side, Ethan sat up with a frown playing between his eyebrows.

"Is this him Mom?" he mumbled to himself, "Is this the brother that has her?" After a few seconds of sitting quietly in the same position he stood up and started making his way down the hill towards the same door that he had seen the other man disappearing through.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

Okay…I have to confess…I have an E-V-I-L mind, hehe. What else can I say, except maybe that man I enjoyed writing this next chapter.

Thanks for all the reviews and I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Lastly I just want to mention that criticism is definitely welcome so please feel free to let me know if I make any mistakes like spelling, grammar, being out of characters etc.

xxx

"Missed me?" Entering and taking a few steps forward Lyle hold his arms in the air in the personification of a typical television game host, his lips were formed in a big grin.

**Chapter 9**

"Go flung yourself over the nearest cliff," she retorted sarcastically.

Smiling he went out of the room only to return a couple of seconds later with a plate, packed with thin strips of meat on it, clutched in his one hand and a bottle of water in the other. "Is this now anyway to treat the one that brings you food and water?" he asked and started moving towards her.

Immediately she brought her fists up in a defensive stance. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him with all the hatred she could master on her face.

"Speechless at the fact that I can be handsome and kind?" Lyle chuckled and continued walking forward until he was merely a few feet away from her.

"Just awaiting my chance to rip your ugly mug from your face …it will be a definite improvement," she merely said without flinching once, inwardly her heart kept on beating at an unnatural fast pace.

"Now, now Sis. Don't be rude to the one bearing you gifts," he said and slightly raised his arms to put emphasize on the food and water he was still holding onto.

She had not meant to, but found herself suddenly unable to tear her gaze away from contents in his hands, something he did not miss out on.

"Hungry?" he asked and proceeded to sit down on his haunches, shoving the plate and bottle towards her.

Staring at the food and water she could feel her mouth starting to water and she swallowed a couple of times.

"What…what is this all about?" she asked suspiciously, struggling to force her eyes away from the feast in front of her.

"What…you aren't hungry?" he replied innocently and made an attempt at taking the plate back.

"No!" Immediately she regretted her over-eager response and tried to bring down her voice a few octaves, "No I'm…what's the catch?"

"You think there's a catch to something as simple as me bringing you food?" Lyle's whole tone of voice said that he found it unbelievable that she could even consider doubting his sincerity. "Have you considered that maybe I don't want you to die…just yet," he said after a while of pretending to ponder her words.

When she did not reply he added, "Why does everything always have to be so difficult with you Parker?" Reaching out a hand he snatched a piece of meat from somewhere in the middle of the plate and holding it up for a second he said, "See…nothing wrong with the food," before pushing it in his mouth.

"Hmmm…delicious," he murmured after a while of clearly appearing to be enjoying the meat. Picking up the plate he held it invitingly towards her.

When she still appeared to be hesitant he sighed and said, "Ah come on Sis. Whatever else you might be thinking of me I surely have no plan to let you go hungry. So why don't you be a good little girl and finish this. I promise you won't regret it."

She was very hungry, in fact her stomach was growling at the prospect of imminent food, and as such she just could not prevent herself from grabbing the plate from him. She immediately started to shove pieces of meat in her mouth. "Where did you get these from?" she inquired after a couple of minutes, in between chewing. She was founding it eerie to be sitting next to her brother like that, almost like nothing bad had happened between them at all, but the need to feed her hunger was overpowering any rational thought that she might have.

"It's good, isn't it?" Lyle stated with a big grin on his face.

"It's okay. The taste...it's just a bit funny, almost tastes like chicken," She did not really know how to respond to his question of whether the food was good or not, instead she started gnawing on another piece of meat.

"Why don't you finish these and we'll talk about it later on," Lyle said and for the next few minutes nothing more was said as Ms Parker finished off the meal followed by the water that her brother offered to her in silence.

When she was finally finished he took the plate and bottle from her and stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked softly with a quaver in her voice. She was suddenly feeling scared of having to go back to being left alone in the dark with only her own dark thoughts to keep her company.

"Are you missing me already?" Lyle said and then added, "Don't worry, I promise I'll be back soon," before turning around and leaving the room. He returned barely a minute later, dragging something heavy behind him.

"What?" Ms Parker said, at first unsure as to what the dark bundle was that she could barely discern and as her brother moved closer she finally got the whole picture.

She took a deep breath and whispered, "Oh my god," a hand moved to her mouth in shock.

Turning around Lyle stared at her in genuine confusion before realization finally appeared in his eyes. "Oh this…I'm sorry to say but god wasn't involved in this," he said as he pointed a finger to the dark wiggling bundle next to him.

Tears started forming at the corner of Ms Parker's eyes as she took in the sight that Lyle was pointing too. It was an Asian woman, in he late teens, dressed in the ragged remains of what used to be a very colorful traditional dress. The girl's arms and legs were tied together with thick rope and a piece of cloth appeared to be shoved in her mouth. All over her body bruises of various size and colors could be seen. The shivering, crying teenager was staring back at Ms Parker with a haunting, pleading look in her eyes; she was clearly in a deep state of shock.

"Well Sis…" Lyle said and dragged the girl in front of him before forcefully pulling up the sleeve of her one arm, revealing the ugly red swollen remains of what used to be an upper arm. Rough field stitches were seen running across the flesh and in some places it was clear that huge pieces of muscle and flesh were missing.

"You asked about where I got the meat from," Lyle continued in a casual, almost friendly tone, "well here's your answer. Straight from a Cambodian delight."

Shaking her head in horror and disbelieve, feeling bile forming in her throat, all that she managed to utter was, "You sick, twisted son of a -."

"Stick and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me," Lyle interrupted her mockingly. "Now Parker…we are going to play a little game."

Leaving the teenager alone for a little while he went out again only to come back a few seconds later with a packet in his arms which he threw unceremoniously in Ms Parker's direction, causing her to jump slightly in shock.

"What are these?" she inquired, although she could clearly see what was in the bundle. It appeared to be a gray shirt and pants of the kind that Jarod used to wear at the Centre.

"Your new clothes my dear sister. You see you are really beginning to stink, therefore I thought you could do with a fresh change of clothing." As a sort of an afterthought Lyle added after a few seconds, "Also it will make it easier for me to replace them if I were to…shall we say…tear something during one of our friendly conversations."

Shaking her head again at the implication of his words she only managed to say, "I won't wear them."

"Thought you were going to say that," Lyle stated and without another word he reached out a hand and removed something dark that was tugged underneath his jacket.

"Maybe want to reconsider that?" he finally responded to her original statement of refusal with a question of his own and swiftly brought the yet unidentifiable object to the front of the Asian girl's neck – revealing it to be a huge hunting knife. The girl cried out and tried to move her head away but Lyle immediately subdued her with a death grip around the neck and as a warning he pressed the knife closer against her throat, causing a small drop of blood to start forming around the spot. "Shush now my dear," he admonished the teenager before turning his attention back to Ms Parker. All traces of a smile suddenly vanished from his face to be replaced with only a dark threatening look. "Either you get dressed in those," he said pointing in the direction of the clothes laying in front of her, "or I promise to kill this girl right here in front of you."

"She's already as good as dead so why should I care," Ms Parker responded, trying to call his bluff. Her eyes kept on darting between the clothes, the frightened girl and Lyle.

"True," Lyle said and after pretending to ponder her allegation a smile started tugging at the corner of his lips again, "but shall we say you can make the difference between her getting an immediate, nearly painless, death or becoming breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days. Maybe as an added bonus I'll even have my way with her in front of you after which I'll start with the butchering on all the juiciest pieces right here too."

Wiping a hand across her face in an attempt to try and clear the tears threatening to start running down her cheeks, Ms Parker came to the awful realization that she was stuck in a no-win situation. Whatever she decided on Lyle was still going to win in the long run. "Why are you doing this to me," she said softly after a while, "I'm your sister. Doesn't that count for anything?"

Sighing deeply Lyle's eyes darkened and his lips twisted in a smirk; "Your words are really starting to bore me Parker. So why don't you be a good little girl and obey me for a change before I do something that I may regret later on." To emphasize his words he pressed the knife deeper against the skin of the girl, this time the knifepoint actually pierced the skin completely and blood started flowing freely down the teenager's neck. The girl whimpered and tried to break loose, but without much luck. Lyle had her in a firm grip.

"Okay," Ms Parker said in a defeating tone after a while.

"I CAN'T hear you," Lyle taunted her.

"I said I'll do it!" she said again, her voice barely louder than before.

"Good girl." Putting the knife down for a second he retrieved something else from his pocket and threw it towards her.

It was a small silver key.

"I don't understand?" Ms Parker whispered with a confused frown playing on her forehead.

"It is quite elementary Sis. It's the key to that chain connecting you to the wall. You will need it to unlock yourself before you can get dressed. Unless you are thinking of tearing your clothes off you…not that I would really mind. Whatever way should be quite entertaining. Oh and don't even think of trying to overpower me, I promise you won't get far. Definitely not in the current physical state that you are in."

Nodding her head once to indicate her understanding and compliance Ms Parker picked up the key and after a few seconds of struggling she managed to remove the chain from her leg. She rubbed her leg a little while to try and return the feeling to it.

"We don't have all day," Lyle said, "So get a move on."

Frowning again Ms Parker stared at him before asking hesitantly, "What…you want me to get dress…in front of you?"

"What other way? If such a simple task is too much for you I can always come over to try to assist you."

Biting on her bottom lip Ms Parker stared at the Asian girl in front of her for a little while. "I'm so sorry," she whispered in the teenager's native language before reaching out slowly for the clothes in front of her.

xxx

Very slowly and quietly Ethan was making his way up a flight of metal stairs towards the soft sound he could hear coming from the other side of a door on one of the upper floors.

He had nothing in his hands with which to defend himself and was silently cursing himself for that fact. He had been so eager to reach his sister in time that he had not even considered the idea that he might need a weapon until it was too late.

He could only hope that the fact that he was younger, in a fairly good shape and had the element of surprise on his side would provide him with the upper hand that he would desperately need in the next few minutes.

When he finally reached the door he reached out a hand and very slowly went for the handle. Carefully he pushed the handle down until he could feel the door giving in and beginning to open.

When there was barely more than a small opening available to him he squeezed through gently and immediately hunched over to try and offer the smallest amount of target as was possible to the person or persons on the other side.

At first all he was able to see was darkness around him and it took some time for his eyes to adjust. The room was empty except for an old sofa and a coffee table standing in the middle of the place. From the blanket that was thrown to one side, and the fact that Ethan could see a notebook displaying some pictures of his sister on the table, he suddenly realized to his horror that the person that had been living in that room most probably heard him entering and fled in time – or maybe he was still there, just hiding away.

Cursing himself again for the fact that he forgot to bring any weapon he also realized that there was nothing he could do except to continue onwards, his hands raised in front of him in a defensive posture.

He had barely walked a couple of feet when all of a sudden he was ambushed from out of nowhere. He was grabbed from behind and with a lot of force thrown against the wall. Without giving him a chance to defend himself someone jumped him again, pulled him up and slammed his back against the wall. The attack was followed by an unbelievable strong arm pushing against his throat, threatening to cut off his air supply.

After a few seconds he could feel the arm relenting and a surprise voice saying, "Ethan? Is that really you brother? What are you doing here?"

xxx

**Author's Note:**

Okay…I hope I haven't written Ms Parker to weakly. I just though that after what Lyle have tried to do to her before, her having gone without food and much water for a while, the cannibalistic situation etc. she needed to crack under the pressure a little bit, after all she's still human at the end of the day.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

Thank you so much for all the kind reviews and even the minor criticism I received from a few readers. I really do appreciate it if someone tells me if I'm making a mistake, because that's the only way I can know how to improve on my writing and I really want to improve where I can.

There is something I would like to know from all of you – if you don't mind. Can you please tell me as to which characters I'm writing most according to the TV series and which ones I need to improve on? The reason why I'm asking is that I have absolutely no idea as to whether my characterisation is accurate, or at least closed to accurate, or whether I need to work on it. I really try my best, but it can become really difficult sometimes.

Anyway, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy chapter 3. It is a bit short – for that I apologise – but I promise that the next chapter is going to be long and…hmmm…interesting, V-E-R-Y interesting.

xxx

He had barely walked a couple of feet when all of a sudden he was ambushed from out of nowhere. He was grabbed from behind and with a lot of force thrown against the wall. Without giving him a chance to defend himself someone jumped him again, pulled him up and slammed his back against the wall. The attack was followed by an unbelievable strong arm pushing against his throat, threatening to cut off his air supply.

After a few seconds he could feel the arm relenting and a surprise voice saying, "Ethan? Is that really you brother? What are you doing here?"

xxx

**Chapter 10**

"Brother, where have you been all this time? We've been worried sick," Jarod exclaimed, his whole face lightened up, before pulling Ethan into a fierce hug.

After a few seconds he started to register that the hug was not being returned, in fact the body within his arms was rigid and stiff.

Releasing his hold on Ethan Jarod frowned and took a step backward to stare at his brother. "Ethan, what's wrong?" he asked hesitantly.

When no reply was given he walked over to a nearby wall and appeared to press something on it. Immediately the room was lightened up. Turning around Jarod hurried back to his brother and upon seeing the state that he was in he drew in a deep breath.

"What happened to you?" he asked, clearly troubled at the appearance of the younger man.

Ethan's face was ash-white, his eyes were dull and had a calculating look to them, his hair was damp and plastered to his head and sweat could be seen running down his temples. Jarod's eyes widened when he noticed that the younger man was dressed in what appeared to be the standard theatre-issued clothes of a hospital. Also his one's one arm was in plaster, a dirty dressing was covering his one temple – blood was seeping through the material – various bruises and cuts were visible all around his face and upper body and he appeared to have received three stitches to his upper lip.

It was when Jarod saw how Ethan's body appeared to be swaying slightly from side to side that he quickly took a step forward and reached out a hand in an attempt to help. "Why don't I –" he started saying but was stopped mid-sentence by a raised hand and a loud, "NO!"

"I don't…understand?" Jarod said with a questioning frown on his face and tried to reach out to Ethan again, "I'm just trying to help."

"Where is she?" Ethan started addressing him in a husky voice. "Please, if you have her just tell me where she is!" he begged with as much volume as he was able to bring to his voice.

"What are you talking about? Where's who?" Jarod asked.

"My sister…Ms Parker –" Ethan begun, but was quickly interrupted by Jarod.

"Ethan…" he said with a sorrowed look forming across his face. Swallowing, feeling his eyes misting over, he diverted his eyes to the ground. Inwardly he thought he finally understood what Ethan was referring too – most probably his younger brother's special talent, his inner sense, had given him some sort of indication that something had happened to his sister but not what the full extent of it was.

Lifting his eyes he stared at his brother with empathy before continuing, "Something terrible happened about a week ago…I'm…uh…still investigating what exactly the cause was."

Realising that he was not making a lot of sense, even stumbling over his words, Jarod stopped talking for a second and appeared to be thinking before saying, "I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you that your sister, Ms Parker, died-"

"NO! You have her!" The emotions on Ethan's face changed from one of confusion to anger and back again.

"Ethan…" Jarod was confused too at the strange words coming from his brother, "I know this is hard to accept. I…we were all hit hard by what happened and-"

Before Jarod could finish his sentence Ethan's eyes suddenly got a vacant look to them. Cringing and grabbing hold of his head between his hands he groaned in pain before slowly sinking to the ground.

'_He's not the one,' _a multitude of voices whispered over and over in his head, _'He's not the one'._

Somewhere at the back of his mind Ethan registered how two warm arms circled around his waist and pulled him up gently before saying, "Come on. Let's get you over to the sofa so I can have a look at you."

After what felt like an eternity Ethan could feel the voices beginning to subside and slowly but gradually he started to become aware of his surrounding area again. The first thing that he saw was his brother's worried face leaning over his. To his surprise he then realised that a blanket was tugged warmly over his body and from the dampness across his face he could have sworn that it had been wiped with something, maybe a wet towel, only a little while before he regained his conscious hold on reality.

"How are you feeling now," Jarod asked.

"I…" He did not know how to answer the question. Instead he attempted to sit up, but immediately sank back slightly when his whole body started to protest against the sudden movement.

"Whoa…take it easy Ethan. You should try not to move…at least not just yet." Two hands pushed against his chest, gently forcing him to lay back down.

Only able to nod his head once Ethan did not say anything except to put a tired arm over his eyes. He was feeling terrible, like a train had smashed into his body, and was struggling to think clearly, but as the memories of the reason why he was there in the first place resurfaced he jumped up, ignoring the aching complaints of his body.

"Ms Parker…my sister," he whispered and as he could feel his legs beginning to waver underneath him he grabbed hold of the closest available thing – Jarod's available arm.

Jarod shook his head and licked over his bottom lip, unsure as to how he was supposed to respond to his brother's statement. As he saw his brother's legs beginning to tremble slightly he quickly reached out a hand to help him before he might fall and increase the damage to his already battered body.

"It wasn't you," Ethan continued in a whisper, almost like there had been no interruption.

Narrowing his eyes Jarod asked, "What do you mean with it wasn't me?" Without realising it the volume of his voice had gone down a few octaves too.

"The voices…my inner voice…they told me my brother took her, my sister. That she was in danger and he was hurting her. All this time I thought it was you. But it wasn't…was it? I've never really met him…maybe that's why I didn't even consider that it might have been him. That it was maybe the other one, her twin brother, that has her."

Jarod could feel himself going ice-cold at hearing the words stumbling from Ethan's lips.

As a multitude of different emotions rushed through his heart and soul he could not help but wonder, _'Can it be? Can she really be alive? Do I dare to hope? That dream I had…maybe she had been calling to me for help.'_

"Ethan…" he finally asked, a bit hesitant but realising that the question needed to be said out loud. "Are…are you saying that she's not dead…that she had been abducted instead? You have to be absolutely sure about this." He could feel his heart beating at an irregular place and he was holding his breath in anticipation of the answer.

"Yes," Ethan nodded his head as he replied, "She's not dead my brother. I know because the voices told me and I trust them. She's very much alive, but in danger and in desperate need of our help." Crunching his face he added after a few seconds of appearing to be in deep thought, "I don't know what this danger is but I do know now that only person is behind this all…Lyle."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

Okay, okay…this may be considered by some of you as another short chapter but I have a reason for it. It is sort of an introduction to the next one.

I know I promised in the author's note of the previous chapter that the next chapter will be interesting, but when I started to write on this chapter I realized that in order for the story to read more realistically I need to do it this way instead of trying to rush it off.

So, I'm asking for your patience. If you read until the end you will notice that I'm building up to a climax in the story. But…please keep in mind how Lyle had injected her with something during the abduction (despite the fact that he had used chloroform on her which should have been enough to subdue her), the 'almost unnatural' thirst she has been experiencing and the water that was given to her in sports bottles. Well…for those of you that might have read my Stargate fanfiction – I don't write anything without a reason, hehe.

Some of you stated that you aren't quite sure yet as to what Lyle's plan is with his sister. As to whether it is revenge or whether he wants to turn her into his clone or something worse. Well…all I can say again is to keep in mind the above-mentioned clues.

Also there's still Angelo...where did our Timmy go?

Sorry for the long author's note…it is just that I have the rest of the story planned out in my head and are excited and quite looking forward to writing it.

Lastly: Thank you so much to all of you that have reviewed me so far. You have no idea how much it means to me.

xxx

"Yes," Ethan nodded his head as he replied, "She's not dead my brother. I know because the voices told me and I trust them. She's very much alive, but in danger and in desperate need of our help."

Crunching his face he added after a few seconds of appearing to be in deep thought, "I don't know what this danger is but I do know now that only person is behind this all…Lyle."

**Chapter 11**

For a while they just talked…about where Ethan had been all the time and how the visions of his sister calling for help had caused him to be knocked over by a car.

Jarod had felt like a dark cloud lifted from his soul upon hearing the news that there was a good chance that Ms Parker could still be alive. At first he had been still hesitant to believe Ethan, but as they continued talking, discussing the situation, he gradually came to believe that what his brother told him might be the truth after all, until at the end he could not prevent the elation he was feeling from expressing itself in the form of a smile on his face and the fact that he kept on asking Ethan to repeat everything that he knew and saw in his visions.

When he finally got around to telling Ethan about the fact that Lyle had claimed the so-called body of Ms Parker from the mortuary, got it sent to a funeral parlor and cremated within a day after her death things slowly started to fall into place for Jarod and to his shock he realized that the answer might have been in front of him all the time.

"Hold that thought," Jarod said just as Ethan started to ask as to what they are going to do regarding rescuing her.

Picking up a phone from the table he pressed a speed-dial number that he was well-familiar with.

After barely two seconds the phone was picked up on the other side and Ethan could hear a faint male voice saying, _"This is Sydney." _

"It is me," Jarod said in reply.

"_Jarod…It is good to hear your voice. Can I assume that the reason for your call is that you have found out something?" _

"I…maybe," Jarod said, "I have Ethan here with me."

"_Ethan…your brother? I thought he was missing since that time with Alex?" _

"He was, but he showed up at my…uh…door just a few hours ago," Jarod did not feel like telling his old mentor exactly what had happened and how Ethan had thought him to be responsible for Ms Parker's disappearance.

Instead he added quickly, before the older man could respond, "Sydney, there is now more than ever reason to believe that Ms Parker might still be alive after all."

For a while Ethan could not hear any words or sound coming from the other side of the line. Even Jarod lifted the phone from his ear and stared it at for a moment before finally saying, "Sydney?"

A slightly quavering, hesitant voice responded after a while, _"Since your brother is there with you can I assume this has somehow to do with him? That he is the reason that you are now confident that she was not killed in that explosion?"_

"Indeed. Ethan informed me that he had experienced visions of Ms Parker calling for help and…and telling him that his brother has her. He…immediately came to me for help."

The line went dead quiet this time and just as Jarod was about to get worried, wondering as to whether he had been cut off for some reason, Sydney spoke up again in a muffled tone of voice, _"I apologize for that, but I had to move to a more secure area. There is something I need to tell you Jarod…at first I did not really give it more than a second thought, but after what you have told me just now about Ethan's visions telling him that Lyle has her…it is all starting to make sense now." _

"What is?" Jarod asked, his eyes connected with Ethan's for a second and he could see how the younger man was concentrating deeply on Sydney's words.

"_Lyle showed up at the office yesterday in an unusually good mood considering the circumstances." _

"That is not unusual…Lyle and Ms Parker had never been able to see eye to eye and…" Jarod started to reply, at first unsure as to where Sydney was going with the conversation. Then as he started to realize what the older man was referring to he felt like mentally kicking himself for his momentary stupidity and as such concluded the sentence more for himself than anyone else, "If he is the one that has taken her…he must have come straight from wherever she is being kept."

"_That is not all Jarod,"_ Sydney interrupted softly, _"If it was not for the fact that Broots had made a statement that slightly infuriated Lyle I would not even have noticed them."_

"Notice what?" Ethan was unable to stop himself asking from where he was now sitting on the sofa.

"_Was that Ethan?"_ Sydney asked.

"Yes. He wanted to know what it was that you have noticed," Jarod replied.

"_Injuries Jarod, definitely recently obtained ones. There were what appeared to be long scratch marks to his wrist and face and some scabs to his bottom lip. He had tried to hide them with expertly applied make-up but there was no mistaken the fact that wherever…or maybe with whomever he obtained them put up quite a fight. When I confronted him with it he merely stated that he had an incident with a wild cat that he had gotten from a friend and-" _Sydney's voice was getting louder and a bit of excitement was clearly evident in every word.

"Ms Parker knows how to protect herself. In fact I've never met a woman more capable than her in the art of self-defense. Sydney…the way that I see it Lyle must have abducted her from her home, faked her death with the explosion and that he is currently holding her as his prisoner for a reason only he would know." Jarod's fingers clenched tighter against the phone as thought of what she must have gone through and might still be going through rushed through his head.

"_If that is truly the case you have to find her and soon Jarod. She is a strong person, but who knows how long she would be able to last under the hands of someone like Lyle." _

"I agree and I think I have an idea as to how to start locating the place where he might have taken her." Jarod's eyes narrowed and his jaws clenched before saying, "If he has hurt so much as an hair on her head…" He allowed the rest of the threat to hang in silence. He could not help but notice how, upon saying those words; a strange, unidentifiable emotion ran across Ethan's face before disappearing just as quickly.

Sydney also went quiet for a few seconds before finally saying in a soft tone, _"Just be careful Jarod and inform me as soon as you know anything more." _

"You will be the first one to know," Jarod promised before hanging up the phone.

xxx

She has a plan.

It hit her as she was reaching for the bundle in order to change her clothes. It was more like the rough edges of an idea, but nevertheless it was the only thing that she could think of at that moment and therefore it was at least something to her…better than having nothing and only being scared of what the bleak future might bring.

As the idea slowly started to evolve in her mind she realized with a sinking feeling that the only way for it to succeed was for her to do something that she might get to regret for the rest of her life.

She might have to give up a part of her soul in order to convince him that he had won.

She might have to do things that went completely against her beliefs.

But…she has no choice. If she were to save the lives of both the girl and herself she would have to act and soon. All her life she had always preferred to be on the offensive instead of the other way around and this time was no different than before.

Closing her eyes, calming her breathing and intense beating heart, she silently prayed to no god in particular for strength and the ability to think clear in the imminent future. She could feel the nausea from before threatening to return, but she refused to give in to it. In order for her plan to succeed she needed to focus on the task ahead, and not about the recent past, and if she were to taste the sweet victory of success she would address what had happened to her under Lyle's hands afterwards, one day at a time. She also felt like she owned it to the girl in front of her to at least try something, anything would be better than just letting her brother get away with the murder of an innocent.

After barely a few seconds she opened her eyes quickly and forced a smile to her face. She was now ready to do whatever it took to enable her and the Asian teenager to escape from the clutches of a madman.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:**

I'm not saying anything. Read and let me know afterwards whether I must rather go and flung myself over the nearest cliff instead of trying my hand at another chapter.

xxx

After barely a few seconds she opened her eyes quickly and forced a smile to her face. She was now ready to do whatever it took to enable her and the Asian teenager to escape from the clutches of a madman.

**Chapter 12**

"What are you smiling about?" Lyle asked, confusion and suspicion alternating on his face.

"Oh…nothing," she said, making sure her voice had a purr to it. Increasing the size of her smile she stretched her arms leisurely above her head before standing up slowly. She had noticed how Lyle had pressed the knife a bit closer against the girl's neck at her sudden movement, but when he realized that there was no threat he allowed his hand to relax a little bit.

Tilting his head slightly to once side he observed her for a little while in silence, clearly caught off-guard at her strange behavior, before finally saying with a warning edge to his voice, "Whatever game you're think you are playing…you better stop it right now."

"I'm not playing any games…brother…at least not yet," she stated softly as she begun to play with the top button of her shirt. She could see Lyle's eyes narrowing and a slight frown formed between his eyebrows. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but not words were forthcoming; instead she could see him excelling his breath followed by the quick swipe of his tongue across his upper lip.

Loosening the first button she proceeded onto the second one.

"What…what is wrong with you?" he asked in a husky tone, a vein was jumping slightly on his forehead.

"Why does there need to be anything wrong with me?" She purred again as the fingertips of her one hand started caressing the skin of her neck and collarbone very seductively.

As she finished with the second button and unbuttoned the third and fourth one nearly simultaneously a bit of cleavage started to show. She could see Lyle's gaze moving from her face downwards, his Adam's apple rapidly moving up and down and his eyes widening, before he murmured, more to himself than to really address her, "This isn't like you."

Inwardly she felt sick and ice-cold upon seeing the emotions on his face changing from suspicion to uncertainty and finally ending in pure lust. For a moment she considered not going through with her plan, but as she gazed down for a moment on the still shivering body of the Asian girl in front of her she knew that there was no turning back. Maybe if it was only herself that was involved in this nightmare it might have been different, but there was now an innocent to think about.

"Maybe my eyes finally opened to the truth," she said casually and had to force her hands to finish the rest of the buttons on her shirt.

"Which is?" he asked. His eyes, admiration clearly evident in them, were roaming freely over her body as he spoke.

"That…" for a moment she hesitate, unsure as to what she was supposed to say, then seemingly out of nowhere the right words suddenly revealed themselves to her, "in order for me to survive I have to change my…feelings toward you."

She could see the hand with the knife in it wavering slightly in front of the girl's neck; he was beginning to loose his concentration.

Swallowing she closed her eyes and for just a moment she allowed the image of a dark-haired pretender to flash through her mind. It was enough to give her the strength to continue.

Slowly she started taking her shirt off. She felt ashamed and was unable to look anywhere else but the ground as she did so. As the cold air in the jail connected with her bare skin she could feel gooseflesh forming across her arms and was unable to prevent herself from shivering ever so slightly.

The sleeves of the shirt slid down her arms and tumbled to the floor. She could feel a lonely tear forming at the corner of one eye and burning down the side of her cheek.

As her gaze moved from the floor back to her abductor she could see him mesmerized by the appearance of her.

"You are truly beautiful," he said, his voice full of admiration.

Lifting her chin, forcing her arms not to cross in front of her chest, she replied to his compliment by saying softly, "I know…" and for some reason she was unable to stop herself from adding, whispering underneath her breath, "Just like our mother."

Immediately she regretted saying that, afraid that her words might have angered him and as such prevented the successful implementation of a plan that was still only barely in its beginning stage.

"Yes, you are," he agreed after a suspenseful few seconds in a neutral tone of voice. From the way he was undressing her with his eyes it did not appear as if his mind fully registered what she had just said.

"So…" she took a step forward, but as she noticed him increasing the pressure of the death grip on the teenager's neck she stopped immediately and instead twirled around once. "Are you satisfied with what you're seeing," she asked.

The left corner of his mouth moved upwards in a smile and he nodded his head before saying, "If only you know how much." The knife against the girl's neck relaxed until the wrist of the hand holding it was merely resting on her shoulder.

Taking another step forward she raised her hands slightly in the air in what she hoped would be interpreted as a gesture that she was totally harmless. After a few seconds of forcing her eyes to lock with his she asked, "So why don't you come over here or…" She paused and moved her eyes up and down his body in a alluring invitation before concluding, "allow me to come to you and maybe you and I can have some real fun? After all you shouldn't be afraid of little ol' me…I'm no challenge for someone the likes of you."

Nodding his head once, his lips transforming into a grin, he tugged the knife back underneath his jacket and shoved the teenager to one side while saying, "You and me later sweetheart."

She was unable to prevent herself from uttering a soft sign of relieve upon seeing the knife disappearing. She could not help but feel that maybe there was hope for her plan to succeed. After all the fact that she had gotten his attention diverted from the girl was already a huge step towards winning the battle.

Straightening himself into an upright position he walked toward her in the same way that a predator would stalked its prey.

She forced herself to stand still as he crossed the distance between them. Her breathing became labored as she could feel him reaching out for her – she knew that there was now no turning back for her.

With almost unnatural gentleness, almost like he was afraid that she was a delicate porcelain doll that could break at the slightest touch, his hands encircled her wrists for a just a second before slowly starting to make their way up her arms. When they reached her shoulders his hands proceeded to trace a pathway down the front of her chest and only when his palms reached the beginning of her pants did they move to her back where they immediately begun making their way upwards towards her shoulder blades. It was just as his hands came to a rest that his fingers suddenly, without any warning, burrowed painfully into her flesh and with force he pushed her firmly against his body.

Grinning, his hot breath blowing across her face, he stared at her through narrowed eyes for a little while before moving his lips to her ear and whispering, "You deserve an Oscar for that performance Sis, but do you really believe me stupid enough to fall for such a stunt."

Her eyes widened in shock.

Her heart increased its pace.

A cold-shiver raked down her back.

"I…don't know what you're talking about," she tried offering him another untruth and slightly pulled against his grip to test the strength of his hold on her.

The only response was for his nails to dig deeper into her skin until she could feel an intense pain and something warm running down her back. She had to clench her teeth in order not to yell out in pain, but a moan still manage to escape her lips.

"Wanna run that lie pass me again?" he hissed in her ear.

"Why would I lie to you?" she whimpered, her back felt like it was on fire. She was desperately trying to prevent her plan -her only chance for escape – from collapsing altogether.

"Maybe because you have underestimated me…again," he replied and chuckled softly. His lips moved from her ear to her neck where it started to nibble on the exposed skin.

She tried to move a bit, to loosen his hold on her, but instead his hands moved from her shoulders, down her arms until it reached her wrists and with force he pushed them behind her back.

"Uh-uh…now we don't want you to go and try anything stupid," he murmured as his moved his intimate caressing from her neck across her collarbone to the beginning of her exposed cleavage.

Blinking away burning tears she pulled with all her might against his hold on her, desperate to break free, all thoughts of subterfuge gone from her thoughts. An intense fear took control of her heart so that she did not even registered consciously that she had begun to beg by repeating the words, "Please don't," over and over again.

It was now only a matter of survival to her…because survival was all that she had in her life at that moment.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the previous reviews.

I just have to say something…I have no plan whatsoever to bring in a rape scene, therefore the current rating.

I apologize because I agree that I should have added a warning to my previous chapter, but my head is sometimes so much in the clouds that I don't realize something until it is too late.

Anyway sorry once more from the bottom of my heart and I also think that I should give maybe a warning regarding the beginning of this chapter – it could be a bit much for sensitive viewers.

xxx

Blinking away burning tears she pulled with all her might against his hold on her, desperate to break free, all thoughts of subterfuge gone from her thoughts. An intense fear took control of her heart so that she did not even register consciously that she had begun to beg by repeating the words, "Please don't," over and over again.

It was now only a matter of survival to her…because survival was all that she had in her life at that moment.

**Chapter 13**

Tears were running openly down her cheeks as she felt his mouth roaming freely across her body. As she could feel him getting aroused she renewed her struggle to try and break free from him, but her strength was not even close to what it used to be in the past. The days that she had endured without food or much water had burned away a lot of her energy. Even the meal from hell that she had consumed barely a few minutes before did nothing to change the fact that physical she was no match for him.

She could feel his one hand moving from her back to the front of her pants, playing at first with the button before loosening it and then proceeding onwards to the zipper just underneath. Sensing an opportunity her one hand broke free from its restraint and she immediately tried to raise her arm in self-defense, but he merely laughed and murmured, "You really don't know when to give up, do you?" before grabbing hold of the hand and forcing it to slide across the area of his arousal.

"This is just for you," he continued as he forced her hand to move upwards again until it came to a rest on his abdomen. "Now…what do you say we stop playing these games and start to have some real grownup fun for a change," he added, before suddenly shoving her with force away from him.

She was not prepared for his sudden change of tactics. The result was that when he pushed her away from him she lost her balance and felt backwards towards the floor, her elbows and the back of her head connecting with a sickening sound with the cold cement floor. An excruciating pain started running up and down her back nearly immediately and she was unable to prevent a whimper from escaping her lips.

Through misty eyes she could see him removing his jacket and the knife and putting it safely to one side, away from her.

Refusing to give up, to let him just have his way with her, she bit on her teeth and rolled on her side in an attempt to find a way to push herself up. The aching throb in her head only increased in severity to warn her against such an attempt. Groaning she reached out a hand to tenderly investigate the back of her head. As her hand made contact with her hair she could feel something warm beginning to seep through her fingertips. Confused she brought her hand to her nose – blood. Grimly she realized that he must have pushed her hard enough for her head to have obtained a serious injury when it had connected with the hard cement floor.

"Just perfect," she groaned softly, a little bit of her former life's bravado returning for a second.

At the corner of her eye she could see him finishing with the buttons on his shirt.

She knew that unless she did something he was going to be coming for her very soon, to claim his price, but she was feeling tired, so very tired. For a moment she could not help but wonder as to whether she should not maybe just give up, to let him have her and do with her as it pleased him…surely that would be easier than trying to resist him all the time? After all there was no hope for her…nobody was going to come and rescue her from him…and…eventually he was going to win one way or another. So maybe it would just be easier for her in the long run if she did not try to fight back at all.

"Mom," she whispered, unsure as to why she was suddenly thinking about her mother, but feeling the need to say her name out loud.

"Our mother is not going to be able to save you Sis…last time that I checked she was still very much dead," Lyle chuckled from where he stood as he allowed his shirt to unceremoniously dropped to the floor and bent down to start working on the laces of his shoes.

Ignoring him she murmured again with tears running down her cheeks to transform into a salty wetness between her lips, "Mom…I don't know what to do. Please help me." As she finished saying the last few words she could see the silhouette of a figure forming in the doorway behind her brother. For a moment she could see her mother standing there with outstretched hands, staring at her eldest son with tears running down her cheek, before the vision slowly faded away to transform into the outlines of…

Little by little the crouching figure moved forward and only bent down once to pick up something from the floor.

Ms Parker was unable to prevent herself from holding her breath as she could finally make out who the latest arrival was and what his intentions were. She had no idea as to whether he would be able to succeed, but she did not intent to watch and find out. She was going to help him out as much as she was able to.

Clenching her teeth she pushed with her hands against the floor until she managed to move herself in some sort of a sitting position. The world started spinning around her at a maddening speed, but she merely closed her eyes for a few seconds to try and calm herself. When she finally opened her eyes she could see her brother staring at her impassively. His shoes were kicked to one side now too, only his pants remained.

Swallowing and biting down hard on her tongue, in order to override the intense throbbing of her head, she forced herself to push once more against the floor in an attempt to stand up. Even if she did not succeed she knew that it would at the very least keep Lyle's attention on her and away from the person that was closing in on him from behind.

As she begun moving her legs to try and find a grip on the floor for her feet Lyle smiled sarcastically and taunted, "Oh the once all-powerful Ms Parker, now reduced to a shivering, crying bundle in front of my feet."

He started walking towards her slowly; the fire in his eyes warning that she would not get to escape from his plans for her again. Just as Lyle kneeled down on one knee in front of her, his hands reaching leisurely out to her, a noise was heard just behind him and almost immediately his body went rigid and a shocked expression started forming on his face.

He tried to stand and one hand reached for some unseen spot just below his shoulder blade, but his legs gave in like jelly underneath him.

Uttering a loud groan of pain he collapsed to the ground and landed on his side right next to one of her legs.

Surprised and still a bit dazed at what had just occurred in front of her she had barely managed to pull her leg away from him in time and was unable to stop herself from staring open-mouthed at the mysterious figure from before that was now approaching her slowly.

Without offering Lyle's trembling body a second glance he jumped over and came to a crouching position in front of her.

For a moment both victim and rescuer could only stare into each other's eyes, a multitude of rampant emotions were chasing each other across her face and a strange, gentle smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Nodding his head at her the man turned around slowly, appearing to look for something, and when his eyes came to a rest on her discarded shirt he quickly moved over to it, picked it up with one hand and brought it back to her.

At first she did not move, shocked at how sudden things have turned around for her and maybe even still a bit traumatized due to everything that she had to endure up to that stage.

"Daughter save now," the man said and widened the size of the smile on his face, "Angelo protect friend," he added and held out the hand with the shirt clutched in it to her.

A low moan escaped Lyle's lips just as Angelo finished talking and both he and Ms Parker turned their heads simultaneously to stare at him.

"You…didn't kill him?" she asked, a mixture of accusation and maybe even a bit of relief evident in her voice.

He shook his head in reply and pushed his hand closer towards her to indicate his wish for her to get dress.

"Thank you," she said softly and from the way she spoke the words it was clear that she was not only thanking him for offering her the shirt.

Without any more hesitation she grabbed the shirt from Angelo and quickly got dressed, her rescuer had moved back to the door in the meantime.

As soon as she was done she tried to stand up, but when her whole body protested she instead proceeded to crawl around the body of her brother. She was just about to pass him, to go on to where she could see Angelo sitting next to the crying Asian girl with his one hand stroking gentle across her hair, when the corner of her eye caught sight of something glinting against the light that was infiltrating the darkness of the prison from just outside the door.

Turning her head to stare at what it was that caught her attention she could see a knife sticking out from just underneath Lyle's shoulder blade. It was the same knife that he had used to threaten the life of the Asian girl before.

Staring at it almost mesmerized she was unable to prevent herself from moving closer and before she knew it she was leaning over his body with her one hand wrapped around the handle of the knife.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:**

Okay…remember how I told you guys to keep in mind some of the stuff I mentioned in the earlier chapters.

Well, this chapter deals with it a bit.

Thank you so much for the previous reviews and I hope you will find this chapter to your liking too.

If not, remember I'm always open to critic.

xxx

Staring at it almost mesmerized she was unable to prevent herself from moving closer and before she knew it she was leaning across his body with her one hand wrapped around the handle of the knife.

**Chapter 14**

Her fingers started caressing the handle…up and down…up and down they moved across the blood-wet leather exterior of the hunting knife.

Her face was now mere inches away from his. She could see his eyes moving frantically underneath closed eyelids, his face was scrunched up in pain and every so often a moan would escape his lips.

"Look at me," she whispered close to his face.

Her only reply was another soft moan followed by some muffled words being uttered by him.

Tilting her head slightly to one side, pursing her lips, her fingers played a silent beat on the handle before wrapping themselves around it in a solid grip.

"I said…" she started off in a soft tone, "LOOK AT ME!" and with those words she pulled the knife out from underneath his shoulder blade with one swift attempt.

"Arhhhhhhhhhhh!" he screamed out loudly, his whole body went stiff with his back arching in response to her action.

She could feel his blood streaming through her fingers and she found herself suddenly enjoying the power of life and death that she had over him.

'_Don't let him die,'_ she could hear the voices, something she sometimes considered as a cursed ability, whispering in her mind.

"Why in hell shouldn't I!" she yelled out loudly and when a shocked murmur sounded up behind her she turned her head around slightly to see Angelo and the Asian girl staring at her with wide eyes.

She started to open her mouth to say something, to tell them that there was nothing to be concerned about, but when she could not find the correct words to offer them she merely shook her head and turned her attention back to her brother.

'_He is important to your future,'_ this time she could clearly hear her mother's voice in her head, before it faded away until she was once again left alone with her own thoughts.

"Yeah…like he won't try coming after me again if I let him live," she replied sarcastically and waited for any reaction from her inner voices, but her only response was silence.

For a few moments she was frozen in the same position, seriously considering to let her brother's life-giving blood just drain away, but as she happened to turn her gaze back to his face and saw that his eyes were opened she realized that there was no way that she would be able to let it happen. Despite what she had to endure under his hands she was still no cold-blooded murderer.

Uttering a curse under her breath she turned her head around and when she laid her eyes on the clothes that he brought her earlier on she reached out and pulled it towards her.

She could not be bothered with trying to make him a make-shift bandage so she merely bundled the shirt up and pushed it against the wound, before turning him carefully around on his back so that he could lay on the piece of clothing and as such act as a way to stem the flow of blood.

"Don't move," she said when he tried to resist her turning him on his back and when it did not appear as if he was about to comply she added, more harshly, "I said DON'T move."

When she was finally finished she picked up the pants to wipe away at the blood on her hands. "This is just perfect," she snorted disgustingly as she struggled to clean her fingers with angry swipes across the skin. "You tried to involve me in some sick, pathetic twisted plan of yours and now I have to sit here and try to get your filthy blood of my hands."

Turning her gaze towards him, she could see his eyes staring at her impassively, she snapped, "Just look at what a sorry state you are in now. Did you really think you would be able to get away with it?" She knew that she was not telling the whole truth, that unless it was for Angelo things would have turned out much different and for the worst, but it made her feel good to utter those words, even if it was just in order for her to regain some of her former inner strength.

To her surprise and shock a smile started forming across his mouth.

Narrowing her eyes she shoved the blood-stained pants to one side, before hissing, "What are you smiling at asshole?"

He coughed once, a few drops of blood formed at the corner of his lips, before murmuring, "I already have."

"You already have…what?" she asked, her forehead scrunched up in confusion.

His breathing was becoming shallow and a strange whistling sound was heard with every breath that he took. After a few moments he finally managed to say, "I…already…got away…with it."

Moving a bit closer to him she scowled, "What are you talking about you miserable excuse for a living being. As far as I can see it you are the one dying here…not me."

He tried to laugh but immediately his face twisted in a painful grimace. "It's…already in you…working its magic...transforming your mind to-" before he could finish his sentence a coughing fit raked through his body.

Her eyes widened slightly in shock and her mind raced through all sorts of scenarios as to what he could possible be talking about. Eventually she clenched her teeth and merely said, "You're lying."

"Am I?" he replied and tried to wipe away at the blood on his face, but before his hand could even reach his lips he moaned in pain before letting it fell back into position. "Your kidnapping…they wanted to see…if you could reach…your full potential."

"And here I thought you merely wanted me to play out some sick fantasy of yours," she replied sarcastically, still not able or willing to believe a word that he was saying.

"That was…just one of my perks," he managed to say after a few seconds of trying to force more oxygen to his lungs. "From our mother…they knew that…strong emotions… brought out…inner sense. Reason why…our fa…Mr Parker…raised you to be…cold and emotionless. He was scared of…what you were capable off. They are not."

He paused his talking for another coughing fit.

She did not try to interrupt him again, merely stared at him with uncertainty, confusion and shock in her eyes.

"I was given…permission to have you…in exchange…have to make sure…you get the chemicals…in you. Was told to…use whatever…means to break you…to bring intense emotions forth…works better that way with the stuff you now…have in you."

Realization slowly started to light up her eyes. Diverting her gaze from his she whispered, "The water…the almost unnatural thirst I had all the time…" After a few seconds of appearing to be deep in thought she moved her eyes back to his now ash-white face, "You put something in my water?"

He nodded his head slowly, "Yes. I also injected you with the first, heavier, doze when I took you from your home."

"I don't believe a word you are saying," she said angrily, but from the horrified emotion on her face it was clear that her thoughts and words were two different things.

"Why should I lie," he replied. "I've got nothing…to lose…only to win. Like I said I have gotten away…with it. Not long now…and you will start…to feel the result." As he finished the last few words a soft laughter tore through his body followed by another coughing fit.

Shaking her head in denial she only managed to hiss, "Think whatever you want. I'm getting out of here with Angelo and that poor girl. You can stay here and rot for all I care."

"Don't you wanna know…who gave the order," he replied just as she was about to turn around and make her way to her companions.

Turning her attention back to him she was unable to prevent herself from saying, "Who?" Despite what she had indicated to him inwardly she was beginning to believe his farfetched story and it was scaring the hell out of her.

Grinning he waited a few seconds before replying, "Our father."

Frowning, sure she had heard him wrong, she asked, "Which one. Mr Parker or Mr Raines?"

Shaking his head slowly he said, "No. Our real father."

Uttering a snort she replied to his statement, "Now I know you aren't only certifiable mad. You are also downright dim-witted. I had Broots checked it out and…so help my god…that oxygen pushing, Centre laky had turned out to be our biological father."

"The Centre has eyes and ears everywhere. They…can make you believe…anything they want to," he whispered almost inaudible before closing his eyes.

At first she thought he had died on her, but when she touched the side of his neck with two fingers she could still feel a steady pulse and she realized that he must have just lost consciousness.

For a long time she could only stare at him. She wanted to feel sorry for him, to acknowledge that he was just another product of the Centre, but only hatred, disgust and loafing revealed itself in her heart. All that she managed to see in front of her was a man that had torture, tried to rape her and tricked her into consuming human flesh.

At the thought of the last she could feel nausea returning to her in full force and she barely managed to bend over before all the remains of her previous meal was expelled from her stomach.

After a few seconds her stomach finally decided to calm down a bit. Feeling horrible, uttering a soft groan, she wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand.

A soft hand came to a rest on her shoulder and due to her already fractured nerves she spun around and was just about to shot out a fist when she registered that it was the Asian girl standing behind her.

"Thank…you. You are…a very…brave woman," the girl spoke with a heavy accent and in broken English.

"Not as brave as you are," Ms Parker replied back in her native tongue and then added, "I am so very sorry for what you had to endure at the hands of that madman." Upon saying, _'madman,'_ she turned around and pointed a finger at the now still body of her brother.

"I am…save…now…right?" the teenager asked and her eyes moved away from Ms Parker to that of Lyle.

"Yes you are." Standing up slowly, refusing to acknowledge the protest of her aching body, she reached out a hand to the girl. "Come. We better get you to a hospital. I also know someone that will be able to provide you with a new identity just in case my brother ever recovers and get the bright idea to try and come after you again."

The Cambodian teenager nodded her head in reply; her whole face stated that she trusted Ms Parker with her whole life. Without any hesitation Ms Parker wrapped her arm underneath the girl's one shoulder so that they could provide mutual support to each other and turning her head to where Angelo was still sitting she said gently, "Come on my hero. Time to go home."

xxx

So…what do you think?

My plan is to write another two chapters and then to let this story lead into a sequel, but only if you guys are interested.

Otherwise I'll end this story on another note.

On a last note…for those of you that wonder where the hell Jarod and Ethan is – they will definitely be in the next chapter.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:**

I am so sorry for this very very late update.

I have been suffering from some serious writer's block and have rewritten this chapter a million times in an attempt to get the characterization correct.

I still don't know whether this chapter is going to work.

All I can say is that if you don't like it – critic is always welcome.

xxx

The Cambodian teenager nodded her head in reply; her whole face stated that she trusted Ms Parker with her whole life. Without any hesitation Ms Parker wrapped her arm underneath the girl's one shoulder so that they could provide mutual support to each other and turning her head to where Angelo was still sitting she said gently, "Come on my hero. Time to go home."

xxx

Chapter 15 

In silence, without looking back once, they exited the room and walked down what appeared to be a long, well-lighted corridor with a cement floor and wooden walls.

They were nearing the end of the corridor and could see the beginning of a small flight of stairs when Angelo suddenly froze on the spot, nearly causing Ms Parker and the Asian girl to stumble over their own feet.

"What is it?" Ms Parker murmured, her tone of voice a cross between concern and a bit of annoyance.

"People coming," Angelo replied in an equal soft tone, his face scrunched up as he gazed in a direction somewhere at the top of the stairs.

His widened eyes was more than enough to tell her that he could sense that somebody was close, but that he had no idea as to who it could be.

"Shit," she whispered, "Is there going to be no end to this madness." Swallowing once she darted her eyes to the spot that Angelo was staring at before turning her head slightly around to stare at the room that they had just came from. For just a moment she considered returning to her former jail to retrieve the hunting knife in order to have at least some sort of a weapon, but she realized the futility of it when a very faint noise was heard somewhere very close and slightly above them. Frowning she stood very still for a moment and indicated to the others to do the same. After barely a few seconds she heard the noise again and at that moment she realized it was the sound of a person, or maybe more than one, that was walking across a wooden floor somewhere above them.

"Quick," she said, when the noise sounded up again for the third time, this time from somewhere just above the stairs. Increasing her hold on the Asian girl and making sure that Angelo understood her intention she started moving to a shadowy spot next to the steps. She had no idea what she would do once their visitors finally showed their faces, especially given her currently poor physical condition, but she could only hope, maybe even assume, that anything would be better than the madman she had left behind.

They had barely reached their intended destination when a very faint shot, barely audible due to a silencer being used, suddenly tore through the air, causing both Ms Parker, Angelo and the girl to jump out of shock in response. Ms Parker immediately crouched down and with her arms forced the other two to move behind her. She knew in the long run it might not mean much, but at least that way she would be the first one to face whatever danger the future might bring.

From somewhere in the dark above them Ms Parker could hear the unmistakable screeching of a door – or maybe a trapdoor – being forced opened, followed by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Holding her breath, hearing the others automatically doing the same too, she could hear at first one person, then another, gradually approaching them. All of a sudden, without any warning, Angelo jumped up from behind her. "Angelo wait!" she hissed between her teeth, but he simple ignored and rushed around her to meet the arrivals.

For a moment she was torn between protecting Angelo from a possible danger or to remain where she was and hoping that the newcomers would not notice the girl and herself sitting there in the shadows. To her surprise and irritation she could hear the voices from her inner sense starting to whisper at the back of her mind, but she decided to ignore them.

It was just as she made a decision that their yet unknown visitors would eventually noticed them anyway and that she would be better off facing the future head-on that a soft, very familiar, voice vibrated through the air, "Angelo?"

She shook her head, at first sure that her mind was playing tricks on her and that there was no possible way that the person that had just spoken could be who she thought it was.

"What are you doing here?" the person spoke up once again.

"Daughter hurt. Friend help," Angelo replied. It was followed by the sound of footsteps running down the steps this time.

Feeling dazed at the very idea that he could actually be there, she stood slowly and only turned around slightly to indicate to the teenager behind her to do the same.

And then…

They were standing face to face.

Although she had not even think about it consciously she was at all times aware of the fact that she must look anything but her normal self. But from the way his eyes widened and the fact that he stood speechless for a while she suddenly realized that just maybe her appearance was a bit worse that she thought, because it was obviously that he was shocked at what his eyes was observing.

She wanted to tell him that she was fine, for a second she even considered rushing into his arms and hugging him out of sheer gladness for seeing him there, instead the only think that she managed to say was, "What are you gawking at wonderboy? I might look the worse for wear, but -"

"Are you…okay?" he interrupted her softly, ignoring her pretense at bravado altogether, but from the way he said the words she could sense that there was so much more that he wanted to say to her.

"Just peachy Jarod. What are you doing here?" She did not mean to sound abrupt and sarcastic, but the words slept out of her mouth before she could help herself. At the back of her mind she realized that her words sounded absurd, even a bit stupid, given what had happened to her and the current situation, but old habits died hard.

"Ms Parker," a figure suddenly moved from out of the shadows behind Jarod.

"Ethan?" For a moment she was certain that her eyes were laying to her as to the identity of the person standing next to Jarod, especially since she has not seen him for such a long time. It was only when he rushed forward and pulled her into a fierce embrace that she realized that it was indeed her younger brother.

She had always prided herself for being strong in any given situation and especially for not being a typical woman that would cry at the slightest provocation, but the feeling of Ethan's protective arms around her and the sudden awareness that she was actually finally saved from a madman's clutches caused an involuntary tear to escape from the corner of her eye and to silently run down her cheek.

When his hands moved slightly upwards and accidentally touched the injuries she had obtained on her back she was unable to prevent herself from wincing and crying out softly.

Immediately he let go off her.

"I-I…I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" he stumbled over his words slightly. His worried eyes roamed over her face and he could not help but swallow upon noticing the bruises on her face and around her neck.

"No…I…" She had no idea how to reply, instead she just said in a husky tone, "Nothing I can't handle."

Before anybody else could respond to her statement she turned her back on her Ethan and pulled the Asian girl from behind her.

Forcing a mask of indifference over her face she addressed Jarod, "This girl needs medical attention do-"

"What happened?" Jarod interrupted her for the uttermost time. Walking over to the teenager he gently reached out for her arm. The teenager whimpered, pulled back and tried to hide behind Ms Parker, she was clearly not about to trust another man after what had happened to her recently.

"It's okay," Ms Parker soothingly said to her in Cambodian and pushed her gentle towards Jarod again. "He…he's a friend, you can trust him," she added after a few seconds of hesitation.

Examining the teenager's arm Jarod asked the same question from before, "What happened to her?"

He was just about finished with the examination when he realized that no answer had been forthcoming.

After whispering to the girl in broken Cambodian that she was save now and that he would make sure that nobody would get the change to hurt her again he turned his attention to Ms Parker.

"What had happened here Ms Parker?" he asked again.

Reluctant and suddenly unable to find the courage to answer his question she could only shook her head and avert her eyes from him.

Nodding his head in understanding Jarod turned to Ethan and started issuing instructions, "Brother, please take Angelo and the girl to the car. Ms Parker and I will follow you shortly. There is a small Catholic hospital not far from here where we would be able to get the necessary medical attention for this girl, but there's some…uh…stuff that first need my attention, before we can go. The girl doesn't appear to be in any imminent danger, but just make sure to keep her warm while you are waiting for us."

"I will do so," Ethan stated and without any hesitation took Angelo and the teenager up the stairs and before long their retreating footsteps faded away.

Crossing the distance between them Jarod rested a hand on her shoulder. This sudden and atypical behavior coming from him forced her to look up again.

"Where's Lyle?" he inquired after a few seconds of having allowed her to compose herself.

Pointing a finger over her shoulder, towards the corridor, she whispered, "Back there."

"Did you kill…is he dead?" Jarod asked carefully.

Uttering a snort she stated, "Does it matter?"

"Mer-" he started off softly, but scowling she shook his hand off her shoulder and snarled, "Don't you dare! Don't you dare say my name!"

Feeling the beginning of anger burning inside him Jarod snapped, "Fine! Whatever suits you, your highness. I don't think I will ever understand you. It is obvious that you are in a lot of pain, both emotional and physical, and god knows what Lyle has done to you, but still you try to act like you don't need any help whatsoever. If that's the way you want it, so be it. Just be careful that one of these days you don't find yourself all alone and without a single friend in the world."

Moving passed her he started walking down the corridor, gun drawn. Not once did he bother to look back or say anything more to her. After a few seconds he disappeared into her former jail, but almost immediately came out again.

"He's…gone?" he half-said, half-asked, with confusion spreading across his face.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Rushing towards the room it did not take long for her to see that it was indeed empty. No Lyle and even the bloodied remains of the clothes she had used for his bandage and to wipe the blood from her hands were gone. The only remains in the room were her chain, the water bottle she had been using for a while – and a lot of blood that was decorating the floor of the place.

Turning her attention to Jarod she whispered, "I don't understand. I left him here just a few minutes ago. How…how could he have managed to escape without any of us noticing?"


End file.
